Miies  from  ::>ource  to  Sea 


I1ie  Mississippi  River  immediately  below 
Itasca  Lake 

Copyri^hte.l.iyOT.  byH.  D.  Ayer 


N( 


The  Mississippi  River 

And  Its  Wonderful  Valley 


Twenty-seven  Hundred  and  Seventy-five 
Miles  from  Source  to  Sea 

By 

Julius    Chambers 

Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
Member  of  the  National  Geographic  Society 


IVith  80  Illustrations  arid  Maps 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New^    York    and    London 
^be    IknicherbocUer    press 

1910 


^i 


\ 


& 


Copyright,  1910 

BY 

JULIUS  CHAMBERS 


Ubc  Itnicfeerbocher  prcae,  Hew  l|?orli 


TO    MY   WIFE 
MARGARET 


299191 


CONTENTS 


Foreword 


CHAPTER 

I.     The  Era  of  Fable 


II.     Dawn  of  the  Era  of  Credibility 
III.     The  French  Explorations 
1. — Jacques  Cartier 
2. — Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
3. — Allouez  Finds  a  Name  . 
4.— Wonderful  La  Salle! 
5. — Joliet  and   Marquette     . 
6. — La  Salle  Tries  Again     . 
7. — Louis  Hennepin 
§.— La  Salle's  Last  Visit     . 
9. — St.  Cosme's  Voyage 
10.— Iberville  Banishes  All  Mysteries 
11.— Le  Seuer  and  Blue  Mud 
12. — Philology  of  "  Mississippi  "  . 
IV.     Jonathan  Carver  to  William  Morrison 
V.     The  Louisiana  Purchase    . 
VI.     Lewis  and  Clark         .... 


PAGE 

ix 

3 

12 
17 

18 
21 
43 
47 
50 
56 
66 
68 
71 
74 
76 
79 
81 
85 
93 


Contents 


CHAPTER 

VII.     Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacomo  C.  Beltrami 
Vlll.     The  Schoolcraft  Expedition     . 
IX.     The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition 
X.     Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  . 
1.— At  White  Earth  Mission 
2.— At   Spirit   Island    . 
3. — The  Mississippi! 
4. — Itasca       .... 
5. — A  New  Lake  . 
6. — Nicollet's  Creek 
7. — Do^Ti  the  Young  Mississippi 
8. — Pemidji,  Cass,  and  Winnebagoshish 
9. — Pokegama  to  St.  Anthony 
10. — Fort  Snelling  to   Saint  Louis 
11. — By  Steamboat  to  New  Orleans     . 
12. — To  the  Sea  and  to  New  York 
XL     The  Itasca  State  Park      .... 
XII.     Delta  op  the  Mississippi  .... 

1. — The  Levees 

2.— The  Jetties 

XIII.     Joining  the  Great  River  to  the  Great  Lakes 
XIV.     The  Age  of  Water 


Contents 


vu 


CHAPTER 

PACK 

XV. 

The  Mississipi'i  ix  War      .... 

2.37 

1. — Struggles  with  the  ludians  . 

.       2.37 

2.— British  Final  Defeat  at  New  Orleans 

242 

3._The  Civil  War        .... 

.       252 

Forts  Henry  and  Donelson 

.       255 

Shiloh 

.      258 

New  Orleans     . 

.      262 

Vicks'burg 

.      269 

XVI. 

"  The  Mississippi   Bubble  " 

.      277 

XVII. 

Great  Cities  of  the  Valley 

.      285 

Saint  Paul-Minneapolis 

.      286 

Saint  Louis   . 

.      290 

Memphis         ... 

.       294 

New  Orleans 

,       297 

To  THE 

River:    UEnvol   .... 

304 

Index 

305 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGB 

The  Mississippi  River  Immediately  below  Itasca  Lake 

Frontispiece 

The  Itasca  Watershed 8 

Surveyed  and  drawn  by  J.  V.  Brower,  1892-1903. 

A  Page  of  the  Radisson  Manuscript     ....         24 
Photographed  at  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  England, 

under  dii'ection  of  Hon.  W.  E.  Lee. 
(Courtesy  of  J.  V.  Brower.) 

Father  Hennepin's  Discovery  of  St.  Anthony  Fall  .        68 
Painted  by  Douglas  Volk  in  the  State  Capitol. 
(Copyright,  1905,  by  Douglas  Volk.) 

Minnehaha  Fall 80 

(Copyright,  1908,  by  T.  W.  Ingersoll.) 

Recent  View  at  Southeastern  Extremity  of  Itasca, 
Showing  the  Point  across  the  Lake  at  which 
Schoolcraft  Reached  It,  in  1832    ....       110 

Itasca  Lake,  Looking  South  from  Bluff  at  Northern 

End 11<> 


Nicollet's  Creek,  beyond  Itasca.    "  The  Cradled  Her- 
cules " 1-^^ 

(Courtesy  of  J.  V.  Brower.) 

The   Mouth   of  Nicollet's   Creek,   where   it   Enters 

Itasca 1-^ 

(Taken  since  the  building  of  a  dam  at  the  outlet  of 
the  lake.) 

The  Outlet  of  Nicollet's  Middle  Lake       .        .        .       126 


X  Illustrations 

PAGB 

The  Itasca  Lake  Region,  as  Surveyed  by  Hopewell 

Clarke,  October,  1886 128 

The  Sources  of  the  Mississippi 130 

First  Official  Survey  Map  (1875).     By  Edwin  S.  Hall. 

The  City  of  Duluth  in  1872 132 

Saint  Paul,  Looking  Southwest 132 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1872. 

A  Typical  Chippewa 136 

The   Mississippi    River — Thirty    Miles    below    Itasca 

Lake  142 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 

A  Sample  of  Cedar  Forest,  in  the  Itasca  Country     .       142 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 

The  Outlet  of  Itasca  Lake,  1904 144 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 

The  Mouth  of  Boutwell  Creek,  West  Shore  of  Itasca 

Lake 144 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 

The  East  Arm  of  Itasca  Lake 146 

(Looking  north  from  the  Southern  End.) 

The  Shore  of  Itasca  Lake,  East  Arm,  near  Nicollet's 

Portage 148 

Chambers  Creek,  Connecting  Itasca  with  Elk  Lake. 

(Elk  Lake  in  the  Distance) 150 

(Copyright,  1909,  by  H.  D.  Ayer.) 

Elk  Lake,  Looking  South  from  Morrison  Hill  .        .       152 

Sketch  Map  of  the  Land  between  Lake  Itasca  and 

Elk  Lakes 154 


Illustrations 


A  Minnesota  Forest 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection, 

Map  of  the  Upper  Drainage  Basin  of  the  Mississippi 
River 


PACB 

15G 


The  WixNEBAGOSHisn  Reservoir  Dam    .... 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 

PoKEGAMA  Fall 

Photograph  by  C.  H.  Dickinson. 

The    Second    Government    Dam    on    the    Mississippi, 
BELOW  Grand  Rapids 

St.  Anthony  Fall 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1872. 

A  View  of  Fort  Snelling,  Showing  the  Round  House 

and  the  Original  Stockade 

Photographed  in  1872. 

Roman  Catholic  -^Basilica  of  St.   Paul,"  Built  by 
Father  Gaultier  in  1841,  after  which  the  City 

Was  Named 

Painted  by  H.  W.  Wack,  after  a  drawing  by  R.   0 
Sweeney  of  Saint  Paul,  1852. 

View  from  Barn  Bluff   .... 

View  from  Red  Wing,  Looking  South   . 

The  Author's  "  Baden  Powell  "  Canoe  . 

The  Maiden  Rock,  LxVKe  Pepin     . 

Lake  Pepin,  from  Top  of  Maiden  Rock 

Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

Lake  Pepin,  Looking  North  from  Point  No  Point 


ir,s 

104 
166 

108 
170 

170 

172 

174 
174 
176 
176 
178 

180 


xii  Illustrations 


PAGE 


Great  Spirit  Bluff,  near  Alma,  Wisconsin  .         .         .       182 
Photograph  by  E.  J,  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111, 

Fountain  City ,         .       184 

Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

The  City  of  Winona,  Minnesota 186 

Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

"  The  Sugar  Loaf,"  near  Winona 188 

Trempealeau 188 

Minnehaha's  Grave,  near  De   Soto       ....       190 
Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

The  City  of  Dubuque,  Iowa 192 

Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

A  View  of  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  from  a  Photograph  Taken 

from  Bluff  Park,  Showing  Government  Canal   .       194 
(Copyright  by  Goulty,  Nauvoo,  111.) 

A    Cypress    Swamp    on    the    Mississippi,    near    New 

Orleans 196 

Old  Absinthe  House,  New  Orleans       ....       198 

The  Old  State  House  at  Baton  Rouge,  Burned  during 

THE  Civil  War 198 

The  House  Built  for  the  Emperor  Napoleon      .        .      200 

The  Itasca  State  Park 202 

(Map  supplied  by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.) 

Itasca  State  Lodge 206 

Birdseye  View  of  Itasca  Basin 206 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 


Illustrations  xiii 

PACK 

The  Mississippi  at  the  Head  of  the  Passes  .         .         .       218 

The  Mouth  of  South  Pass,  Showing  Eads  Jetties     .      220 

Jetties  at  the   Southwest  Pass   of  the   Mississippi 

River 222 

Cotton   Staves  and   Steamboats   at  the   Levee,   New 

Orleans 226 

(Courtesy  of  M.  B.  Trezevant.) 

Outline  Map  of  the  United  States,  Showing  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  its  Watershed 232 

Keokuk 236 

From  a  daguerreotype,  1847. 

Battle  Hollow,  the  Scene  of  Black  Hawk's  Defeat       238 
Photograph  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 

Nah-se-us-kuk   (The  Whirling  Thunder)     .        .        .      210 
From  Catlin. 

Muk-a-tah-mish-o-KxVH-kack   (The  Black  Hawk)         .       240 
From  Catlin. 

Point-a-la-Hache 264 

The   "Crescent"   at   New   Orleans    (Mississippi    100 

Feet  Deep) 266 

(Courtesy  of  M,  B.  Trezevant.) 

URSU1.INE  Convent,   below  New   Orleans.     (Showing 

High  Wharf,  Outside  Levee) 268 

General  Pemberton's  Headquarters,  Vicksburg   .        .      274 

St.  Anthony  Fall,  1910 284 

The  City  of  Minneapolis,  from  the  Eastern  Bank   .      286 


xiv  Illustrations 

PAGB 

Fort  Snellixg,  1908 288 

(Copyright,  1908,  by  T.  W.  Ingersoll.) 

Saint  Paul,  from  Mississippi  Bridge     ....  290 
(Copyright,  1908,  by  T.  W.  Ingersoll.) 

The  Minnesota  State  Capitol,  Saint  Paul  .         .         .  292 
(Copyright,  1909,  by  T.  W.  Ingersoll.) 

Saint   Louis   from    the   River   during   the   Visit    of 

President  Taft 294 

The  City  of  Memphis 296 

From  a  water-color  painting  by  F.  T.  Anderson. 

L'Union  Francaise,  New  Orleans 298 

Moss-Covered  Oak,  Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans        .  298 

A  Typical  Corner 300 

Cafe  des  Artists 300 

The  Cathedral  of  St.  Louis 302 

The  Monk's  Court  (Cathedral  on  the  Right)    .         .  302 

South  Pass,  Rear  Range  Lighthouse    ....  304 

The  Tomb  of   Dominique  You,  the   Pirate   Hero  of 

Chalmette 304 


FOREWORD 

THE  JNIississippi  was  named  "  The  Father  of  Run- 
ning  Waters "   by   natives    dwelling    amid    the 
forests  of  its  vast  valley  who  knew  not  of  other 
great  rivers  upon  earth.     Those  sponsors  were  not  far 
wrong.     In  length,  it  is  exceeded  only  by  the  Nile;  in 
volume,  by  the  Amazon. 

Geographically,  it  divides,  almost  equally,  the  broad 
territory  of  the  United  States  of  America.  It  is  the^ 
proudest,  most  valued  natural  possession  of  the  Ameri- 
can people:  it  is  revered  next  to  American  liberty! 
Its  banks  are  scenes  of  traditional  and  authenticated 
romance.  Its  source  has  been  a  dreamland  for  poets; 
its  delta  a  haven  of  buccaneers  and  a  rallying  ground 
for  worthier  heroes. 

In  American  histoiy,  it  maintains  leadership  over 
all  other  rivers,  although  many  of  them  are  nearer  to 
European  discovery  and  settlement.  In  finance,  its 
good  name  was  tarnished  by  Spanish  and  French 
schemers:  but,  self-reliant  by  nature,  the  majestic 
river  redeemed  itself  as  a  highway  for  the  internal  de- 
velopment of  a  Republic  of  free  men.  Its  commerce 
has  builded  a  score  of  populous  cities,  has  made  hund- 
reds of  millionaires,  and  has  suggested  vast  railway 
systems  that,  for  a  score  of  years,  took  the  burden  of 
traffic  from  its  bosom.  But  the  development  of  the 
countiy  has  exceeded  the  capacity  of  man  to  build  rail- 
ways and  to  equip  them.     Throughout  the  jNIississippi 


xvi  Foreword 

valley  confessed  congestion  exists.  Deep  waterways 
are  planned  that  will  re-establish  the  majesty  of  The 
River  and  its  tributaries.  The  Mississippi  returns  to 
its  own! 

In  religion,  the  earliest  missionaries  of  the  Holy 
Faith   in    North   America    followed    its    watery    way. 

In  war,  the  Mississippi  always  has  had  a  full  share, 
- — savage  against  savage,  white  against  red,  and  white 
against  white !  As  an  epilogue  to  the  final  conflict  with 
Great  Britain,  a  battle  was  fought  near  its  mo  ith,  weeks 
after  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  that  guaran- 
teed title  to  the  mammoth  Louisiana  Purchase.  Early 
in  the  Civil  War,  this  river  became  the  western  "  dead- 
line "  for  revolt  against  Federal  authority.  From  Saint 
Louis  and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  wedges  of  assault 
were  driven  southward  and  northward  into  the  vitals 
of  the  Confederacy.  Hereafter,  it  is  a  bond  that  must 
always  bind  together  the  faggot  of  States. 

Such  a  theme  is  worthy  of  a  wondersmith  in  words. 
It  deserves  the  sacrifice  of  a  lifetime's  patience  and 
research.  The  writer  had  hoped  that  a  worthier  hand 
would  give  to  the  task  a  career  and  a  fortune.  His 
only  reason  for  undertaking  this  work,  amidst  the  de- 
mands of  an  exacting  profession,  is  that  since  he  tra- 
versed the  Mississippi's  uttermost  length,  that  river  has 
been  to  him  an  enthusiasm.  Dwellers  along  its  banks 
have  become  his  friends  and  associates ;  mere  towns  when 
first  known  to  him  have  grown  into  prosperous  cities. 

During  these  lengthening  years,  the  mighty  river's 
irresistible  flood  has  pursued  its  ceaseless  journey  to 
the  sea,  indifferent  to  the  appreciation  of  man. 

Julius  Chambers. 

Lotos  Club,  New  York  City,  1910. 


The  Mississippi 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Era  of  Fable 

HISTORY  begins  with  an  interrogation  mark. 
An  Age  of  Fable  has  always  preceded  the 
Age  of  Fact.  The  mystery  regarding  the  first 
Spaniard  who  saw  the  mouth  of  the  ^lississippi  River 
never  can  be  cleared,  unless  credible  records  be  un- 
earthed in  the  Royal  Library  at  Madrid  that  will  ex- 
plain the  sources  of  information  drawn  upon  for  "  The 
Admiral's  Map,"  with  which  the  name  of  Christopher 
Columbus  is  associated.  This  "  Admiral's  ]Map  "  is 
the  earliest  known  drawing  upon  which  are  set  down 
the  partly  enclosed  waters  to-day  described  as  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  the  three-pronged  delta  of  a  mighty 
river  entering  that  Gulf  from  the  northward.  This 
map,  so  intimately  identified  with  Columbus,  receives 
its  chief  importance,  despite  many  inaccuracies  of  de- 
tail, from  the  fact  that  the  three-mouthed  delta  is 
located  notably  near  the  point  at  which  the  JNIississippi 
delivers  its  flood  of  waters  to  the  sea.  Corroborative 
evidence  of  the  accuracy  of  the  original  discoverer,  who- 
ever he  may  have  been,  exists  in  the  indisputable  fact 
that  no  other  river's  embrochure  along  the  entire  Gulf 
coast  presents  similar  peculiarities.  The  map  is  veri- 
table,— one  of  the  geographical  treasures  of  this  world; 
— but  it  was  not  engraved  until  1507,  or  actually  pub- 
lished until  1513,  when  it  appeared  as  an  illustration 


4  The  Mississippi 

in  a  Spanish  translation  of  the  "  Almagest  "  of  Claudius 
Ptolemseus,  an  Alexandrian  astronomer-geographer  of 
the  early  part  of  the  second  century  a.d.  The  second 
book  of  the  remarkable  work  of  Ptolemseus  deals  with 
problems  connected  with  determination  of  the  obliquity 
of  the  sphere.  Not  only  did  this  Egyptian  believe 
that  the  planets  and  stars  revolved  around  the  earth, 
but  he  attempted  a  calculation  of  the  circumference 
of  this  globe!  A  study  of  this  work,  many  years  pre- 
viously, had  warranted  Columbus  in  assuming  that  the 
distance  from  the  west  coast  of  Europe  to  the  east 
coast  of  Asia  was  only  two  thirds  of  the  actual  circum- 
ference of  the  earth.  Jebb  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  entire  theory  of  Columbus,  which  led 
to  the  discovery  of  America,  was  due  to  the  writings 
and  calculations  of  this  Egyptian  scientist.  Such  is 
the  debt  of  America  to  Egypt  that  never  has  been 
honoured. 

An  examination  of  this  sketch  chart — for  it  cannot 
claim  to  be  more — discloses  near  the  western  extremity 
of  the  large  gulf  that  stretches  westward  from  the 
Florida  peninsula  an  unmistakable  delta,  extending  far 
into  the  sea  and  having  three  distinct  mouths,  through 
Avhich  a  river  of  unusual  volume  discharges  its  waters. 
The  location  and  shape  of  INIobile  Bay,  with  its  two 
rivers,  are  also  accurately  placed.  Whether  the  chart 
was  drawn  from  hearsay,  or  was  the  fruit  of  Colum- 
bus's actual  vision,  during  his  fourth  and  last  voyage, 
cannot  be  positively  decided.  But  the  sources  of 
Columbus's  information  are  not  so  obscure  as  might 
be  supposed.  On  his  second  voyage,  he  coasted  the 
south  side  of  Cuba,  assumed  by  him  to  be  a  peninsula 
of  Asia,   and  discovered  Jamaica.      That  was  in  the 


The  Era  of  Fable  5 

summer  of  1494.  On  his  third  voyage,  he  kept  farther 
south  and,  on  July  31,  1498,  went  ashore  at  Trinidad, 
following  up  this  discovery  by  landing  upon  the  con- 
tinent of  South  America.  The  Cabots  had  already 
visited  North  America.  On  his  way  home,  Columbus 
reached  Santo  Domingo,  where  he  was  seized  and  sent 
to  Spain  in  chains. 

The  importance  of  the  fourth  voyage  of  Columbus, 
as  associated  with  the  famous  "  Admiral's  Map,"  can- 
not be  overestimated.  Leaving  Spain  in  March,  1502, 
he  called  at  Santo  Domingo  only  long  enough  to 
reprovision  and  sailed  thence  to  Central  America,  dis- 
covering Honduras  on  July  30th  of  that  year.  The 
most  credible  record  of  that  voyage  contains  little  de- 
finite information  regarding  the  route  by  which  the 
explorer  reached  the  Central  American  coast.  If 
he  passed  through  the  Strait  of  Florida  and  followed 
the  coast  line  to  the  north  and  west,  the  "  Admiral's 
Map  "  is  readily  accounted  for,  because  he  must  have 
sighted  the  peculiar  formation  of  alluvial  soil  that  car- 
ries the  Mississippi's  flood  far  into  the  Gulf  of  INIexico. 
After  landing  at  some  point  on  the  coast  of  Honduras, 
Columbus  followed  the  shore  line  southward  as  far  as 
Panama,  and  then  sailed  homeward  by  way  of  Jamaica. 
This  is  matter  of  record.  It  has  been  surmised  that 
Columbus  obtained  the  information  upon  which  this 
chart  was  drawn  from  daring  Spanish  adventurers 
at  Jamaica, — men  who,  at  that  time,  had  explored 
the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  most  of  the 
coast  of  the  vast  land-and-island-enclosed  gulf  to  the 
northward. 

Serious  attempts  have  been  made  by  modern  savants 
to  link  the  name  of  Americus  Vespucius  to  the  Missis- 


6  The  Mississippi 

sippi  delta;  but  their  arguments  have  not  been  con- 
clusive. Vespucius  was  Columbus's  evil  genius:  he  was 
an  Italian,  hailing  from  Florence,  as  Columbus  did 
from  Genoa.  He  was  a  member  of  the  commercial 
house  at  Seville  that  outfitted  Columbus's  third  voyage. 
His  claim  that  he  was  absent  from  Spain  between 
jNIay,  1497,  and  October,  1498,  engaged  in  a  voyage 
of  discovery,  is  hotly  contested  and  apparently  con- 
trovened  by  authenticated  records  of  his  business  ac- 
tivities in  Seville  during  much  of  that  time.  AVhether 
the  assertions  of  Vespucius  were  true  or  false,  he  stole 
much  of  Columbus's  glorj^  and,  through  the  aid  of 
German  geographical  publishers,  who  first  suggested 
that  the  continent  be  named  after  "  its  discoverer,"  he 
achieved  the  immortality  his  name  enjoys.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  found  an  able 
defender  in  Count  F.  A.  de  Varnhagen,  one  time 
Ambassador  of  Brazil  to  Portugal,  who  made  many 
original  researches  at  Seville  into  the  career  of  Ves- 
pucius. His  final  conclusions  w^re  published  in  1874. 
Count  de  Varnhagen  contends  that  the  so-called  first 
voyage  of  Vespucius,  previously  discredited,  actually 
occurred  in  1497-98;  but  that  it  was  made  to  North 
America  and  not  to  any  place  south  of  Honduras.  On 
his  return  voyage,  he  followed  the  coast  northward  and 
eastward  as  far  as  some  "  undetermined  port  which  he 
described  as  '  the  finest  in  the  world,'  whence  he  sailed 
to  the  Bermuda  Islands  and  thence  home."  The  intri- 
cate navigation  suggested  by  this  latest  eulogist  of  Ves- 
pucius through  the  Bahamas  or,  in  the  Gulf  Stream,  up 
the  Florida  coast,  is  not  creditable  to  his  comprehension 
of  navigation  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.^ 

1  Count  de  Varnhagen  has  this  to  say  regarding  "  The  Admiral's 


The  Era  of  Fable  7 

The  status  of  the  next  claimant  is  even  more  hazy 
than  that  of  the  Florentine  ship-chandler  of  Seville. 
Francisco  de  Garay,  Governor  of  Jamaica,  made  a 
report  to  the  Crown  (published  at  Burgos,  1521), 
announcing  the  discovery  of  Yucatan  and  expressing 
a  determination  "  to  fit  out,  at  his  own  expense,  four 
ships,  with  good  pilots,  and  to  give  the  command  to 
Alonzo  Alvarez  de  Pineda,  with  the  object  of  seeking 
some  gulf  or  strait  in  the  mainland  towards  [!]  Flor- 
ida." The  meaning  of  this  obscure  phrasing  is  that 
the  Governor  of  Jamaica  believed,  as  did  many  other 
people,  that  a  navigable  strait,  to  be  found  somewhere, 
led  through  the  continent  to  the  sea  that  washed  the 
shores  of  Asia.  He  hoped  to  find  it.  This  report  of 
Francisco  de  Garay  bears  date  of  1510.  The  hoped- 
for  channel  to  Cathay  was  not  found,  although  Pineda 
was  absent  eight  or  nine  months;  but  the  commander 
reported  that  he  "  had  entered  a  large  bay,  into  which 
emptied  a  large  river."  This  has  been  assumed  to  have 
been  Mobile  Bay.  He  declared  the  mainland  to  be 
thickly  inhabited,  adding  that,  after  ascending  the  river 
sixteen  miles,  he  had  "  discovered  forty  villages  of  na- 
tives." These  he  located  in  the  Province  of  Amichel, 
*'  a  good  land,  peaceful,  healthy,  and  provided  with 
abundance  of  fruits."  Nothing  is  said  about  any  ob- 
stacles to  navigation.  In  another  part  of  the  report, 
Pineda  describes  the  careening  of  his  vessels  "  upon  a 
sandy  beach,  to  clean  their  hulls,"  but  whether  this  oc- 
curred at  Mobile  Bay  or  elsewhere  is  not  made  clear. 
Recent  researches  conducted  by  JNIr.  Clarence  B.  Moore 

Map":  "It  was  compiled  from  much  earlier  ones,  the  information 
derived  from  various  sources.  '  The  River  of  Palms,'  shown  on  that 
map,  was  intended  to  represent  the  Mississippi." 


8  The  Mississippi 

appear  to  prove  conclusively  that  Pineda  visited  Mobile 
Bay,  which  has  two  rivers,  instead  of  one,  flowing  into 
it.  The  shores  of  this  land-locked  harbour  contain  many 
evidences  of  early  Indian  villages.  In  fact,  no  other 
port  of  entry  on  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
answers  to  the  condition  set  down  by  Pineda.  This 
Spanish  commander  may  have  passed  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  but  the  claim  that  he  sailed  up  that  river 
two  hundred  miles,  or  to  the  present  site  of  Baton 
Rouge,  is  so  discredited  as  to  be  dismissed.  If  he  ever 
saw  the  Mississippi,  he  reached  it  through  Lakes  Pont- 
chartrain  and  Maurepas.  In  that  event,  Mr.  Moore's 
theories  go  by  the  board. 

The  chief  historical  importance  of  this  report  of 
Francisco  de  Garay  centres  in  the  statement  that 
Pineda  "  encountered  Hernan  Cortes,  who  had  already 
occupied  Vera  Cruz."  Pineda's  description  of  the  na- 
tives also  casts  a  doubt  upon  his  credibility.  He  says: 
"  Their  stature  varied  in  different  provinces.  In 
some,  we  saw  gigantic  people;  in  others,  men  of 
ordinary  stature,  and  in  still  other  places  mere 
pigmies." 

It  is  highly  probable  that  Hernan  Cortes  first  ac- 
curately charted  the  INIississippi  mouth,  as  his  map  gives 
it  the  name  of  "  Arrestiosos  " ;  but  the  voyage  of  Pineda 
must  be  immortal  because  it  fixed  the  boundary  of  the 
Western  sea  between  Florida  on  the  east  and  what  is 
now  Mexico  on  the  west.  Cortes  completed  the  super- 
ficial exploration  of  Columbus  by  proving  the  non- 
existence of  any  channel  through  which  vessels  could 
pass  to  Asia. 

Francisco  de  Garay  sent  out  another  expedition  in 
1528  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  conquering  and  an- 


6^  ^  -'^^w^        -^^ 


The  Era  of  Fable  9 

nexing  the  provinces  of  the  mainland  extending  from 
the  river  Palmas — which  may  have  been  the  Rio 
Grande — to  the  Cape  of  Florida.  This  expedition 
was  entrusted  to  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  to  whom  was 
given  the  title  of  "  Governor  of  Florida,  Rio  de  Palmas, 
and  Espiritu  Santo."  This  undertaking  had  a  most 
unfortunate  termination.  When  nearing  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  they  discovered  the  influx  of  fresh 
water  but  were  blown  out  to  sea  and  were  forced  to 
land  on  what  they  assumed  to  be  the  western  coast 
of  Florida.  After  a  council  had  been  held,  the  main 
body  under  Narvaez's  command  was  ordered  to  march 
along  the  coast  "until  it  reached  a  harbour;  and  the 
ships  carrying  the  other  members  of  the  troop  were 
to  sail  in  a  Hke  direction,  until  they  arrived  at  the 
harbour  sought  for."  The  land  and  sea  forces  never 
were  reunited.  The  sufferings  of  the  men  afoot,  among 
the  swamps  and  rank  vegetation  of  the  coast,  were 
terrible.  The  land  forces  reached  Apalache,  an  Indian 
town  believed  to  have  been  near  the  present  site  of 
Tallahassee.  Thence  they  proceeded  to  the  coast  but 
nothing  could  be  seen  or  heard  of  their  ships.  They 
set  about  building  boats  but  as  they  had  only  one 
carpenter  among  them  and  were  without  tools,  they 
erected  a  forge,  making  a  bellows  from  horses'  hides, 
and  converted  their  spurs,  stirrups,  and  other  iron  im- 
plements into  axes,  chisels,  and  other  tools.  Hair  from 
the  manes  and  tails  of  their  slain  horses  was  converted 
into  rigging.  Stones  served  for  anchors;  sails  were 
made  from  their  own  shirts.  Five  vessels  are  said  to 
have  been  completed  in  forty-eight  days.  Into  each 
of  these  fifty  men  were  crowded,  with  such  provisions 
as  they  could  obtain.     The}^  sailed  on  September  22, 


The  Era  of  Fable  9 

nexing  the  provinces  of  the  mainland  extending  from 
the  river  Palmas — which  may  have  been  the  Rio 
Grande — to  the  Cape  of  Florida.  This  expedition 
was  entrusted  to  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  to  whom  was 
given  the  title  of  "  Governor  of  Florida,  Rio  de  Palrrias, 
and  Espiritu  Santo."  This  undertaking  had  a  most 
unfortunate  termination.  When  nearing  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  they  discovered  the  influx  of  fresh 
water  but  were  blown  out  to  sea  and  were  forced  to 
land  on  what  they  assumed  to  be  the  western  coast 
of  Florida.  After  a  council  had  been  held,  the  main 
body  under  Narvaez's  command  was  ordered  to  march 
along  the  coast  "until  it  reached  a  harbour;  and  the 
ships  carrying  the  other  members  of  the  troop  were 
to  sail  in  a  Hke  direction,  until  they  arrived  at  the 
harbour  sought  for."  The  land  and  sea  forces  never 
were  reunited.  The  sufferings  of  the  men  afoot,  among 
the  swamps  and  rank  vegetation  of  the  coast,  were 
terrible.  The  land  forces  reached  Apalache,  an  Indian 
town  believed  to  have  been  near  the  present  site  of 
Tallahassee.  Thence  they  proceeded  to  the  coast  but 
nothing  could  be  seen  or  heard  of  their  ships.  They 
set  about  building  boats  but  as  they  had  only  one 
carpenter  among  them  and  were  without  tools,  they 
erected  a  forge,  making  a  bellows  from  horses'  hides, 
and  converted  their  spurs,  stirrups,  and  other  iron  im- 
plements into  axes,  chisels,  and  other  tools.  Hair  from 
the  manes  and  tails  of  their  slain  horses  was  converted 
into  rigging.  Stones  served  for  anchors;  sails  M-ere 
made  from  their  own  shirts.  Five  vessels  are  said  to 
have  been  completed  in  forty-eight  days.  Into  each 
of  these  fifty  men  were  crowded,  with  such  provisions 
as  they  could  obtain.     They  sailed  on  September  22, 


lo  The  Mississippi 

1528,  following  the  coast  westwardly  "  until  the  latter 
j)art  of  October,"  when  they  made  a  landing  but  were 
attacked  by  the  natives  and  lost  two  of  their  men, — a 
fact  afterwards  reported  by  Hernando  de  Soto.  This 
landing  is  supposed  to  have  been  near  the  present  site 
of  Pensacola.  The  expedition  at  once  put  to  sea  again 
and  the  only  chronicle  extant  of  the  immediate  hap- 
penings is  found  in  Oviedo's  version  of  a  letter  written 
nine  years  later  by  one  of  the  only  two  survivors  (the 
original  text  does  not  exist),  as  follows: 

And  our  people  went  two  more  days,  at  the  end  of  which 
the  boat  in  which  the  treasurer  was  arrived  at  a  point  made 
by  the  coast,  behind  which  was  a  river  that  flowed  broad  and 
swollen  from  freshet;  a  little  behind,  the  boat  of  the  governor 
and  the  others  anchored  at  some  islands  near  by,  and  the 
treasurer  went  to  them  and  made  known  the  discovery  of  the 
river.  As  they  found  no  wood  with  which  to  parch  the  maize 
they  had  been  eating  raw  for  two  days,  they  agreed  to  enter 
the  river,  of  which  they  took  up  fresh  water  in  the  sea;  and 
on  going  near  to  it,  the  violence  of  the  current  at  the  entrance 
did  not  permit  them  to  gain  the  land.  While  working  to  get 
to  it  the  wind  sprang  up  in  the  north,  and  by  it  and  the 
strong  current  they  were  put  out  more  to  sea.  And  they 
sailed  that  night  and  the  next  day  following  up  to  night  time, 
when  they  found  themselves  in  three  fathoms  depth,  and  see- 
ing that  evening  many  smokes  on  the  coast,  they  did  not  dare 
to  land  in  the  night  time,  and  anchored. 

The  "Relation"  sent  by  Nuiiez  Cadeza  de  Vaca,  de- 
scribed as  "  the  treasurer,"  to  Emperor  Charles  V.  the 
same  year  differs  in  some  respects.     Here  is  its  text: 

We  sailed  that  day  until  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  when 
my  boat,  which  was  first,  discovered  a  point  made  by  the 
land,  and  against  a  cai)e  opposite  passed  a  broad  river.  I 
cast  anchor  near  a  little  island  forming  the  jioint,  to  await 


The  Era  of  Fable  ii 

the  arrival  of  the  other  boats.  The  Governor  did  not  choose 
to  come  up,  and  entered  a  bay  near  by  in  which  were  a  great 
many  islets.  We  came  together  there  and  took  fresh  water 
from  the  sea,  the  stream  entering  it  in  freshet.  To  parch 
some  of  the  maize  we  brought  with  us,  since  we  had  eaten  it 
raw  for  two  days,  we  went  on  an  island,  but  finding  no  wood, 
we  agreed  to  go  to  the  river  beyond  the  point,  one  league 
off.  By  no  effort  could  we  get  there,  so  violent  was  the  cur- 
rent on  the  way,  which  drove  us  out  while  we  contended  and 
strove  to  gain  the  land.  The  north  wind  which  came  from 
the  shore  began  to  blow  so  strongly  that  it  forced  us  to  sea 
without  our  being  able  to  overcome  it.  We  sounded  half  a 
league  out,  and  found  with  thirty  fathoms,  we  could  not  get 
bottom;  but  we  were  unable  to  satisfy  ourselves  that  the  cur- 
rent was  the  cause  of  the  failure.  Toiling  in  this  manner  to 
fetch  the  land,  we  navigated  three  days,  and  at  the  end  of 
this  time,  a  little  before  the  sun  rose,  we  saw  smoke  in  several 
places  along  the  shore.  Attempting  to  reach  them,  we  found 
ourselves  in  three  fathoms  of  water. 

It  is  not  mere  guesswork  to  conclude  that  the  moutli 
of  this  river  which  De  Vaca  could  not  enter  with  his 
shallow  boats  was  some  other  stream  than  the  jNIissis- 
sippi.  Exactly  where  he  touched  must  be  a  matter  of 
surmise,  because  it  may  have  been  any  river  outlet  along 
the  coast  of  what  is  now  Texas. 

With  this  voyage,  we  close  the  conjectural  period 
of  Mississippi  River  discovery,  taking  up  in  the  next 
chapter  the  real  hero  of  the  history  of  the  mighty 
river,  Hernando  de  Soto,  Adelantado  de  Florida,  and 
Conquistador. 


CHAPTER  II 
Dawn  of  the  Era  of  Credibility 


DEALING  with  fable  or  with  fact,  the  distinction 
of  original  discovery  of  "  The  Father  of  Run- 
ning Waters  "  must  be  accorded  to  the  Span- 
iards. They  were  not  only  first  to  gaze  upon  the 
Mississippi,  but,  on  their  return  to  Europe,  first  to 
make  it  known  to  the  civilised  world  of  their  day. 
The  name  of  the  hardy  adventurer  who  first  sighted 
the  three-pronged  delta  never  will  be  known,  but  he 
was  a  Spaniard. 


Series  of  Lakes,  supposed  route  of  Pineda,  entering 
Mississippi  in  15 19  and  of  Moscoso  leaving  it  in  1543 

"It  is  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  history  of  the 
Mississippi,"  says  Schoolcraft,  "  that  it  has  been  '  dis- 
covered '  in  sections,  separated  by  long  intervals  of 
time."  When  we  remember  that  the  river  is  nearly 
three  thousand  miles  in  length,  almost  dividing  a  great 
continent,   nothing   else   was   to   have   been   expected. 


Dawn  of  the  Era  of  Credibility  13 

Quest  for  gold  brought  adventurers  to  the  mouth  of 
the  mighty  stream,  while  explorations  of  the  north- 
west were  principally  undertaken  in  the  name  of  re- 
ligion. Some  explorations  were  not  so  religious  as  they 
claimed  to  be,  because  a  thrifty  spirit  of  commercialism 
characterised  the  conduct  of  their  leaders. 

The  highly  coloured  tales  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca  in- 
spired the  formation  and  despatch  of  the  largest  ex- 
pedition that  ever  set  sail  for  the  American  world.  A 
soldier  of  fortune,  Hernando  de  Soto  was  born  at 
OBadajos  in  1500  or  1501,  and  when  fourteen  years  of 
age,  went  to  Darien  with  Pedrarias.  He  is  heard  of 
ten  years  later  in  Nicaragua,  with  Cordoba.  In  the 
spring  of  1532,  he  joined  Pizarro  with  reinforcements 
at  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil  and  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  conquest  of  Peru.  He  returned  to  Spain,  in 
1536,  loaded  with  honours  and  loot.  The  following 
year,  Charles  V.  appointed  this  daring  adventurer 
Governor  of  Cuba  and  Florida,  adding  special  instruc- 
tions to  explore  the  latter  country.  If  we  may  believe 
the  Relation  of  a  Gentleman  of  the  Town  of  Elvas, 
written  in  Portuguese  but  not  printed  in  English  until 
1686,  the  flower  of  the  Spanish  nobility  joined  that 
expedition.  Of  the  six  hundred  Spaniards  and  Portu- 
guese noblemen  "  in  doubtlets  and  cassocks  of  silk  " 
every  man  was  intent  on  winning  glory  and  gaining 
riches.  The  entire  expedition,  when  it  finally  sailed 
from  Havana,  is  said  to  have  numbered  nine  thousand 
men,  including  officers,  sailors,  and  fighting  men.  This 
statement  is  evidently  erroneous  because  nine  ships  suf- 
ficed to  carr}^  the  invaders.  Soto's  total  equipment  was 
probably  about  nine  hundred  and  fifty  men,  half  of 
whom  w^ere  arrayed  in  silk  or  satin.     The  little  squad- 


14  The  Mississippi 

ron  sailed  from  San  Lucar  in  April,  1538,  and  after 
a  year  in  Cuba,  left  Havana  (INI ay  12,  1539)  for 
Tampa  Bay,  where  a  landing  was  made.  The  ships 
were  sent  back  to  Havana,  with  orders  to  return  to  a 
designated  place  upon  the  northern  coast  of  the  Gulf. 
The  march  of  Soto  during  the  next  three  3^ears  took 
him  around  the  top  of  the  Gulf,  across  territory  that 
is  now  Florida,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi.  He  made 
a  great  circuit  to  the  northward  that  possibly  carried 
him  into  Georgia,  the  Carolinas,  and  eastern  Tennessee. 
That  is  conjectural,  however;  but  it  is  known  that  he 
descended  the  Alabama  River  to  JNIobile  Bay.  There 
he  had  a  fierce  engagement  with  the  natives  (October, 
1540).  Thence,  he  pushed  north-westward  through 
Mississippi  and  wintered  on  the  Yazoo  River,  near  to 
the  greater  river  but  unconscious  of  its  proximity.  A 
severe  battle  with  the  Indians  occurred  at  this  point. 
(This  same  ground  was  fought  over  by  Grant  and 
Sherman  during  the  Civil  War,  prior  to  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg.)  Soto  reached  the  INIississippi  at  Chicka- 
saw Bluffs,  May  8,  1541,  old  style,  the  exact  locality 
of  Sherman's  defeat  in  1863.  Soto  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi on  May  15th,  by  what  means  is  not  clear,  for 
the  river  is  more  than  a  mile  wide  at  that  point  and 
the  spring  floods  must  have  rendered  its  current  very 
rapid.  He  explored  the  region  west  of  the  river  as  far 
north  as  the  JNIissouri  and  south  to  the  Red  River.  He 
did  not  find  the  fabulous  stores  of  gold  he  had  expected 
to  discover.  His  followers  were  discouraged;  two 
hundred  and  fiftj^  of  them  had  died  of  fevers  or  wounds 
received  in  battle.  He  returned  to  the  Mississippi 
again,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River,  on  April  17, 
1542,  fell  ill  of  malarial  fever,  and  after  appointing 


Dawn  of  the  Era  of  Credibility  15 

Luis  de  Moscoso  (generally  written  Luys  INIoscoso) 
his  successor,  Hernando  de  Soto  died.  To  maintain 
the  fable  of  Soto's  divine  attributes,  his  body  was  hidden 
in  a  hut  for  several  days  and  then  buried  in  the  dark- 
ness of  night.  But  the  natives  discovered  the  grave 
and  gathered  about  it.  Moscoso  became  fearful  the 
Indians  might  disinter  the  body;  removing  it  from 
the  grave,  he  sunk  it,  heavily  weighted,  in  the  middle 
of  the  great  river  with  which  the  name  of  the  Conquis- 
tador for  ever  will  be  associated.  According  to  "  A 
Gentleman  of  Elvas,"  the  only  chronicler  who  accom- 
panied the  expedition  and  whose  name  never  will  be 
known,  Soto  died  on  May  21st. 

The  will  of  Hernando  de  Soto,  made  in  San  Cris- 
tobal of  the  Havana,  May  10,  1539,  and  sent  back  to 
Spain,  was  found  at  Seville  among  the  papers  in  the 
suit  of  Isabel  de  Bobadilla,  his  widow,  against  Hernan 
Ponce  de  Leon,  Soto's  partner  and  a  co-executor  of 
the  estate  under  the  will.  It  is  a  long  document,  gorged 
with  religion,  and  makes  man}^  bequests.  Soto  directed 
that  his  body  be  buried  in  the  church  at  Xeres,  near 
Badajos, — a  wish  that  never  was  realised. 

After  wandering  about  in  the  swamps  until  De- 
cember of  the  same  year,  the  depleted  band  reached 
Minoya,  above  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas, — much 
farther  from  the  Gulf  than  the  point  at  which  Soto 
died.^  Here  they  constructed  and  launched  seven  brig- 
antines,  in  which,  on  July  2,  1543,  they  set  out  for  the 
mouth   of   the   tortuous    river,   thus    completing   their 

1  Coronado  was  in  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  probably  in 
what  is  now  Kansas,  when  Moscoso's  troop  was  in  such  straits.  Had 
the  fact  been  known  and  could  they  have  united,  the  fate  of  the 
combined  troop  might  have  been  very  different. — J.  C. 


1 6  The  Mississippi 

knowledge  of  the  lower  part  of  the  broad  stream  to 
which  Soto  had  given  the  title  of  "  Rio  Grande,"  or 
Great  River. 

Attaining  the  Gulf,  they  coasted  w^estward,  never 
losing  sight  of  land  in  their  frail  vessels,  until  they 
arrived,  ragged  and  disheartened,  at  the  Spanish  settle- 
ment at  Tampico.  "  They  kissed  the  ground  when 
they  found  themselves  again  among  their  countrymen," 
according  to  the  Elvas  chronicler. 

Here  the  record  of  Spanish  exploration  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  halts  for  two  hundred  years.  There 
were  a  few  private  expeditions  to  Florida,  chiefly  from 
Cuba,  but  all  were  disastrous.  The  Spaniards  had 
"discovered"  the  Mississippi;  but  they  did  nothing  to 
utilise  it. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  French  Explorations 

WE  must  now  mentally  transport  ourselves  to 
Canada  and  to  the  North-west.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  Spaniards  made  their  search  for  the 
Mississippi  from  the  sea;  the  French  set  out  from 
the  region  of  the  Great  I^akes.  Professor  Ogg  truly 
says:  "Except  as  a  basis  for  subsequent  territorial 
claims,  its  discovery  by  the  Spaniards  might  as  well 
never  have  occurred.  The  whole  work  of  discovery 
had  to  be  wrought  anew  nearly  a  century  and  a  half 
later  by  the  efforts  of  a  different  people." 

The  fur-traders  and  the  missionaries  of  New  France 
accomplished  a  task  that  the  Spaniards,  greedy  for 
gold,  had  abandoned  in  disgust. 

The  Roman  Church  was  prompt  to  recognise  the 
importance  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus.  Whether 
the  Genoese  had  found  much  or  little  territory,  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  undertook,  as  Vicegerent  of  the  Creator 
of  land  and  sea,  to  apportion  it  between  Spain  and 
Portugal.  By  a  bull,  bearing  date  of  May  4,  1493, 
the  right  of  discovery — which  carried  with  it  posses- 
sion— of  any  new  lands  upon  the  face  of  this  earth, 
whether  the  planet  were  flat  or  spheroidal,  was  accorded 
to  those  two  crowns.  This  remarkable  document,  dis- 
posing of  all  territories,  known  and  unknown,  in  the 
Americas,  much  of  Africa,  the  eastern  part  of  Asia, 
and   the   islands    of   the   Atlantic    Ocean,    fixed   as    a 


i8  The  Mississippi 

dividing  line  the  meridian  passing  north  and  south 
through  the  Azores.  A  year  later,  the  same  authority, 
presumably  at  Portugal's  insistence,  moved  the  longi- 
tudinal demarcation  far  enough  westward  to  annex  to 
the  crown  of  Portugal  the  eastern  part  of  the  conti- 
nent of  South  America.  The  only  part  of  North 
America  gained  by  Portugal  was  the  large  island  of 
Newfoundland.  The  remainder  of  both  continents  was 
accorded  to  Spain!  Although  Portugal  got  the  worse 
of  that  Papal  decree,  it  still  holds  much  of  the  terri- 
tory granted  at  that  time,  while  Spain  has  lost  every 
foot  of  the  earth's  surface  thus  apportioned  except  the 
Canary  Islands! 

Doubt  as  to  the  exact  point  at  which  that  longitudinal 
line  crossed  the  mainland  of  North  America  afforded 
a  pretext  to  the  French  to  enter  this  continent  by  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Francis  I.  was  a  devout  church- 
man; he  respected  the  majesty  of  Spain  but  cared  little 
for  the  rights  of  Portugal.  That  Papal  bull  was  there- 
fore the  excuse  for  the  voyages  of  Jacques  Cartier. 

I JACQUES    CARTIER 

The  chart  of  Sylvanus,  from  the  edition  of  Ptolemy 
of  1511,  induced  Cartier  to  sail  from  St.  ISIalo,  April 
20,  1534,  with  two  vessels  of  sixty  tons  each  and  sixty- 
one  men,  for  the  "  Square  Gulf,"  or  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence familiar  to  us,  instead  of  to  the  semi-enclosed  sea 
known  at  that  day  to  lie  west  of  the  Florida  peninsula. 
This  statement  is  practically  reduced  to  a  demonstra- 
tion by  Justin  Winsor,  in  his  recent  elaborate  volume.^ 

1  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  by  Justin  Winsor,  1894.     (The  cartography 
of  this  work  makes  it  invaluable. — J.  C.) 


The  French  Explorations  19 

"  Norman,  Breton,  and  Basque  had  been  frequenters 
of  its  shores,"  says  Winsor,  meaning  the  "  Gulfo  Quad- 
rado,"  and  Cartier  felt  sure  of  the  accuracy  of  their 
charts — a  contention  that  has  been  seriously  disputed 
regarding  the  "  Admiral's  map  "  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Jacques  Cartier  does  not  belong  to  the  Mississippi  any 
more  than  do  his  successors  who  never  reached  its  banks ; 
but  Cartier,  Roberval,  Nicolet,  and  Champlain  were 
the  inspiration  of  the  subsequent  advance  of  sturdy 
explorers  and  earnest  French  missionaries  into  the  New 
World. 

Before  there  could  be  a  Groseilliers,  a  Radisson,  a 
La  Salle,  or  a  JNIarquette,  there  had  to  be  a  New 
France. 

This  development  of  an  unknown  land  took  time; 
and  that  fact  accounts  for  the  long  interregnum  be- 
tween the  lapse  of  Spanish  enthusiasm  for  exploration 
on  the  Gulf  of  INIexico  and  the  westward  advances  of 
the  French  from  Quebec  through  the  Great  Lakes. 
The  failure  of  Columbus  to  locate  a  supposed  strait 
leading  to  Cathay  was  admitted.  The  broad  river  that 
flowed  into  the  "  Square  Gulf  "  promised  much.  If 
Cartier,  in  his  reported  voyage  to  the  coast  of  Brazil 
during  his  buccaneer  period,  had  encountered  the  wide 
mouth  of  the  Amazon,  he  might  have  entertained  the 
same  hope  of  solving  the  problem  tbat  Columbus  and 
his  successors  had  abandoned.  Every  mile  of  progress 
made  by  his  ships  up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  what  is  now 
called  the  Island  of  Orleans,  near  the  present  site  of 
Quebec,  must  have  encouraged  Cartier  in  the  belief  that 
he  had  indeed  found  the  way  to  the  ocean  of  the 
Indies.  He  established  winter  quarters  in  a  small 
cove  near  the  mouth  of  the   St.   Charles  River.     On 


20  The  Mississippi 

September  19,  1534,  taking  one  of  his  vessels,  he  started 
up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and,  on  October  2d,  reached  the 
present  site  of  JNlontreaL  He  named  the  hill,  familiar 
to  every  visitor  to  the  hustling  Canadian  city,  IMont 
Royal.  When  Cartier  climbed  that  mount,  down 
which  athletic  Canadians  now  toboggan  during  four 
months  of  every  winter,  he  saw  only  the  terrors  of  the 
Lachine  Rapids  and  recognised  a  natural  barrier  that 
must  have  ended  his  dream  of  a  channel  to  the  Indies. 

The  real  value  of  this  inland  voyage  of  Cartier  is 
that  the  route  was  developed  up  the  Ottawa,  through 
Nipissing  Lake  to  the  sea  of  the  Hurons  and  the  Great 
Lakes.  Its  importance  was  momentous!  If  Canada 
ever  grows  sufficiently  rich  and  enterprising,  she  will 
cut  a  canal  from  Lake  Huron  through  Nipissing  Lake 
to  the  upper  Ottawa  and,  by  a  series  of  locks  on  that 
river,  establish  a  water  route  that  will  shorten,  by  a 
thousand  miles,  the  distance  from  Duluth  and  the  vast 
wheat  country  of  the  Dakotas  and  Manitoba  to  the  sea! 

The  Frenchmen,  like  the  natives,  knew  hardly  any- 
thing about  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  because  their  way 
to  the  Xorth-west  led  up  the  Ottawa,  through  Lake 
Nipissing  to  Georgian  Bay,  and  left  those  two  large 
bodies  of  water  outside  their  path. 

Cartier's  Bref  Rccit,  as  his  report  to  Francis  I.  is 
known,  is  one  of  the  few  veritable  guide-posts  of  modern 
history.  He  returned  to  France  twice  and  died  within 
sound  of  the  sea,  on  the  Brittany  coast,  September  1, 
1557.  But  Gerard  Mercator,  the  Flemish  map-maker, 
did  not  recognise  the  debt  geography  owed  to  Cartier. 
Either  he  had  not  heard  of  the  Frenchman's  explora- 
tions or  he  disbelieved  in  him.^ 

1  The   Hakluyt-Martyr   map   of   1587   was    the   first   to   show    the 


The  French  Explorations 

II — GROSEIIXIERS  AND  llADISSON 


21 


2dusissippiBivEii: 

PROGRESS  OF  ITS  mCOV£RY. 


The  claims  of  these  two  men  as  original  discoverers 
of  Minnesota  have  been  dis- 
puted, reasserted,  and  dis- 
cussed ever  since  the  finding 
of  the  so-called  Radisson 
manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  at  Oxford,  and 
among  some  records  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  now 
owned  by  the  British  Museum. 
The  history  of  these  precious 
manuscripts — which,  in  them- 
selves, appear  to  be  fully 
authenticated — casts  a  shadow 
upon  them  that  is  probably 
ill  deserved.  They  were  copied 
and  published  only  in  1885, 
by  the  Prince  Society  of  Bos- 
ton, in  a  small  quarto  volume 
of  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  pages,  bearing  this  title: 
""  Voyages  of  Peter  Esprit 
Badisson,  Being  an  Account 
of  his  Travels  and  Experi- 
ences among  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,  from  1652  to 
1654.  Transcribed  from  ori- 
ginal Manuscripts  .  .  .  and  an  Introduction,  by  Gideon 

Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pacific  coast  lines  of  North  America  below  lati- 
tude 50°   N. 


22  The  Mississippi 

D.  Scull,  London,  England.  Boston:  Published  by  the 
Prince  Society,  1885."  In  the  aforementioned  "  Intro- 
duction," we  learn  that  these  priceless  manuscripts,  if 
genuine  and  trustworthy,  were  "  for  some  time  the  prop- 
erty of  Samuel  Pepys,  diarist  and  Secretary  of  the 
Admiralty  to  Charles  II.  and  James  II.,  who  probably 
received  them  from  Sir  George  Carteret,  Vice-Chamber- 
lain of  the  King  and  Treasurer  of  the  Navy,  for  whom,  no 
doubt,  they  were  carefully  copied  from  his  rough  notes 
by  the  author,  so  that  they  might  be  brought,  through 
him,  under  the  notice  of  Charles  II.  Some  years 
after  the  death  of  Pepys,  in  1703,  his  collection  of 
manuscripts  "  (meaning  Pepys's  collection)  "  was  dis- 
persed and  fell  into  the  hands  of  various  London 
tradesmen,  who  bought  parcels  to  use  in  their  shops 
as  waste-paper.  The  most  valuable  portions  were  re- 
claimed by  the  celebrated  collector,  Richard  Rawlinson." 
Here  we  have  all  that  is  known  about  the  Radisson 
narratives.  Although  ^Mr.  Scull,  editor  of  the  manu- 
scripts as  published  by  the  Prince  Society,  states  in  his 
introduction,  "All  his  [Radisson's]  manuscripts  have 
been  handed  down  in  perfect  preservation,  and  are 
written  out  in  a  clear  and  excellent  handwriting,  show- 
ing the  writer  to  have  been  a  person  of  good  educa- 
tion," there  are  disconnected  passages  incHning  one  to 
fear  that  many  sheets  were  lost  or  misplaced.  Some 
of  the  most  vital  incidents  in  the  narratives  are  passed 
over  by  mere  mention  or  are  vaguely  hinted  at,  while 
inconsequential  matters  are  given  in  elaborate  detail. 
It  is  futile,  therefore,  at  this  late  date,  to  discuss  these 
slips  and  shadows  of  doubt.  We  must  take  the  nar- 
rative as  it  comes  to  us,  and  allow  every  reader  to  have 
an  opinion  of  his  or  her  own. 


The  French  Explorations  23 

The  writer  of  this  volume  does  not  intend  to  enter 
upon  a  discussion  regarding  the  credihihty  of  the  Iladis- 
son  accounts  of  the  stay  of  Groseilhers  and  himself  in 
the  valley  of  the  INIississiiDpi.  That  they  were  there 
is  very  fully  attested  by  Tlie  Jesuit  Relations  and 
Allied  Docurnents;  Travels  and  Ex'plorations  of  the 
Jesuit  Missionaries  in  New  France,  1610  to  1701. 
This  series  of  seventj^-three  volumes  is  probably  the 
most  valuable  bit  of  Americana  ever  published  in  this 
country  (Cleveland,  Ohio,  1896-1901).  The  writer 
prefers  to  lean  upon  the  best  authority  now  living  on 
the  Radisson  manuscripts,  Warren  Upham,  Secretary 
of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  and  to  accept 
them  as  they  come  to  the  readers  of  the  present 
day. 

Sieur  des  Groseilliers,  as  the  young  Jesuit  layman 
helper  in  missionary  work  among  the  Hurons  and  Al- 
gonquins  chose  to  describe  himself,  was  born  Medard 
Chouart,^  probably  near  Meaux,  France,  in  1621.  Be- 
fore he  was  twenty,  he  came  to  Canada  and  for  six 
years  or  more  was  a  devoted  servant  of  the  Faith. 
Then  he  became  a  fur-trader.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Abraham  Martin,  from  whom  the  Plains  of  Abra- 
ham, to  the  west  of  the  citadel  at  Quebec,  received  their 
name.  This  wife,  Helen,  died  in  1651  and  two  years 
thereafter  he  took  for  second  wife  a  sister  of  Radis- 
son. This  appears  to  have  been  the  tie  that  bound 
these  two  intrepid  adventurers  together.     Pierre  Esprit 

1 "  The  name  of  des  Groseillers,  taken  from  a  small  property,  was 
Medard  Chouart,  but  he  is  as  little  known  by  that  name  as  Voltaire 
was  known  by  his  real  name  of  Arouet,  he  being  always  spoken  of 
by  the  name  of  des  Groseillers,  changed  in  one  affidavit  into  '  Goose- 
berry,' the  name  literally  translated  into  English  being  '  gooseberry 
bushes.' " — Canadian  Archives,  Report  for  1895,  p.  22. 


24  The  Mississippi 

Radisson  was  also  a  Frenchman,  haihng  from  St.  Malo, 
in  Brittany.  While  a  boy  in  his  teens,  his  parents 
brought  him  to  Three  Rivers,  a  settlement  on  the  north- 
ern bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  about  midway  between 
Quebec  and  Montreal.  The  date  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Radissons  is  fixed  by  the  fact  that  Groseilliers  mar- 
ried Marguerite  Radisson  shortly  after  their  coming 
to  the  country  (1651).  Radisson  had  been  a  sailor, 
even  in  youth,  and  knew  most  of  the  ports  of  the 
Mediterranean.  He  had  visited  Paris,  and  during  a 
lengthy  stay  in  London  had  acquired  the  English  lan- 
guage,— not  alone  a  grammatical  knowledge,  but  an 
idiomatic  and  colloquial  acquaintance,  as  his  written 
narratives  prove.  One  year  after  his  arrival  in 
Canada,  Radisson,  while  on  a  hunting  expedition,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  band  of  Iroquois  and  was  taken  by 
the  Indians  to  a  point  in  what  is  now  Central  New 
York,  on  the  Mohawk  River.  At  the  end  of  a  year, 
he  escaped  to  Fort  Orange  (now  Albany),  came  down 
the  river  to  New  Amsterdam,  whence  he  sailed  to  Hol- 
land. Radisson  returned  to  Three  Rivers  in  the  spring 
of  1654,  at  which  point  our  interest  in  his  "voyages'* 
begins.  Groseilliers,  as  the  elder  man,  appears  to  have 
been  accorded  command,  although  Radisson  was  much 
the  better  type  of  coureur  des  hois.  In  the  two  expedi- 
tions, for  profit  rather  than  fame,  that  these  two  com- 
mercial adventurers  made  between  1654  and  1660,  they 
penetrated  beyond  the  great  lakes  of  INIichigan  and 
Superior  into  what  is  now  Minnesota  territoiy.  The 
claims  set  forth  in  the  Radisson  manuscripts  to 
having  descended  "  the  great  river  "  to  the  sea  or  of 
having  travelled  as  far  north  as  Hudson  Bay  need 
not    be    discussed.      The    first    is    probably    a    boast 


^^    ryeS^    ^rrUJlj     nS^  ^fycCr /^^^rJnifanu  qrn^'i   vtZftt^''^'   e^ ^  Mite/  m^d  a^^%ii .  ^tt^.  ,wi^ 


-.^^^ 


J^^^^^ 


^' 


^^i^       rt~M.    jZn^    JtwrytJ   tti^^O/      /^     0 


^"L.,^/?!^.  ^  -^Z^L  ^^f^  ^-^fy" 


A   Vw^i^  of  (lie  Kadisson  Muinisci-i]tt. 

Photographed  at  Bodleian   Library,  Oxford,  England,  under  Direction 

of   Hon.  W.   E.   Lee. 

(Courtesy  of  J.   V,  Brower.) 


The  French  Explorations  25 

and  the  second  is  unimportant  in  connection  with  tlie 
Mississippi. 

With  the  generous  permission  of  JNIr.  Upham,  who 
has  placed  at  my  disposal  the  fruits  of  years  of  re- 
search and  travel,  I  shall  summarise  an  exhaustive 
treatise  on  the  narratives  of  these  "  first  white  men  in 
Minnesota  "  based  upon  a  series  of  addresses  recently 
delivered  by  him  before  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society.^ 

Radisson  "  married  upward,"  securing  for  wife  the 
daughter  of  John  Kirke,  who  soon  after  became  a  di- 
rector in  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  That  corpora- 
tion, which  received  its  charter  from  Charles  II.  as 
late  as  1670,  had  been  doing  business  in  a  practical 
manner  for  many  years  prior  to  that  date.  Radisson 
had  joined  interests  with  the  pioneers  of  that  company, 
and,  wath  his  brother-in-law,  had  gone  to  England  to 
put  up  a  good  front  for  the  acquisition  of  the  charter. 
But  Radisson  was  at  heart  a  Frenchman  and  he  was 
not  a  tractable  employee  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 
In  1674,  he  kicked  over  the  traces  and  transferred  his 
allegiance  again  to  France,  taking  with  him  his  in- 
separable companion,  and  for  ten  years  did  everything 
that  he  believed  would  advance  the  interests  of  his  na- 
tive land.  He  went  so  far  as  to  establish  a  French 
trading  post  near  the  mouth  of  the  Nelson  River  and 
to  turn  pirate  by  seizing  a  New  England  ship  that  had 
penetrated  into  Hudson  Bay.  This  high-handed  act 
led  to  negotiations  betw^een  the  two  nations,  in  which 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  "  turned  down  "  by  the 

1  Published  in  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  x., 
Part  II.,  pp.  449-594.  The  maps  in  this  chapter  are  used  by  the 
courtesy  of  Mr.  Upham  and  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society. — J.C. 


26  The  Mississippi 

French.  They  harked  back  to  their  Enghsh  friends 
and  were  welcomed  with  open  arms.  No  doubt, 
Radisson's  father-in-law  had  much  to  do  with  that  re- 
ception and  for  the  forgiveness  of  the  past.  In  a  few 
lines  of  the  "  Narratives,"  Radisson  states  his  own  feel- 
ings, although  he  does  not  speak  for  his  companion. 
He  writes:  "  In  May,  1684,  I  passed  over  to  England 
for  good;  so  intent  was  I  on  engaging  myself  to  the 
service  of  his  Majesty,  and  to  the  interests  of  the  Na- 
tion, that  any  other  consideration  was  never  able  to 
detach  me  from  it."  Groseilliers,  ever  a  Frenchman, 
refused  the  overtures  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company; 
and  at  this  parting  of  the  ways  the  two  brothers-in-law 
separated  for  ever.  Groseilliers  drops  out  of  history 
as  does  Civilis,  the  great  Batavian,  afoot  upon  the  dis- 
connected bridge  over  the  Wahal  at  the  end  of  the  Sixth 
Book  of  Tacitus's  History. 

What  these  two  men  had  previously  accomplished 
in  six  years  (1654  to  1660)  cannot  be  overlooked  by 
any  historian  of  North  American  development.  Our 
interest  in  their  *'  voyages  "  begins  with  the  first  west- 
ern expedition  of  the  two  Frenchmen,  which  occupies 
pages  134  to  172  in  the  Prince  Society's  publication. 
Radisson,  the  chronicler,  overlooked  the  importance  of 
the  discovery  of  the  Upper  JNIississippi,  because  he  en- 
titles his  Narrative  "  The  Auxoticiat  Voyage  into  the 
Great  and  filthy  Lake  of  the  Hurrons,  Upper  Sea  of 
the  East,  and  Bay  of  the  North."  The  date  of  start- 
ing is  not  set  down,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  occurred 
in  the  fall  of  1654,  because  Radisson  had  returned  from 
France  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  They  ascended  the 
Ottawa  River,  with  a  small  company  of  Hurons  and 
Ottawas,  by  way  of  Nipissing  to  what  is  now  known 


The  French  Explorations 


27 


as  Georgian  Bay.  Stopping  at  all  trading  posts,  the 
Frenchmen  passed  that  winter  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Strait  of  JMackinae.  Radisson  praises  the  beauty 
of  Lake  Huron ;  some  of  the  expeditions  were  extended 
as  far  as  Green  Bay, 
Lake  Michigan. 
Early  in  the  spring 
of  1655,  the  two  ad- 
venturers went  to 
the  southern  end  of 
Green  Bay,  as- 
cended the  Fox 
River  through  Lake 
Winnebago,  ad- 
vanced across  Wis- 
consin, and  entered 

the  Mississippi  near  the  site  of  Prairie  du  Chien. 
Thence  the  explorers  ascended  the  ^lississippi  through 
Lake  Pepin  to  Isle  Pelee  (or  Bald  Island),  now 
known  as  Prairie  Island,  on  the  INIinnesota  side 
of  the  main  channel  a  short  distance  above  Red  Wing. 
Their  stay  lasted  from  April  or  jNIay,  1655,  to  June, 
1656,  about  fourteen  months. 

Investigations  made  by  Upham  and  Brower  regard- 
ing the  year  passed  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  on 
Prairie  Island  have  done  so  much  to  clear  up  the  mys- 
tery that  enveloped  the  Jesuit  "Relations"  and  the 
Radisson  diaries  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  quote 
the  Upham  address  on  this  point: 

On  this  island,  which  derived  its  names,  both  in  French 
and  English,  from  its  being  mostly  a  prairie,  a  large  nnmber 
of  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  fleeing  from  their  enemies,  the  Iro- 
quois, had  recently  taken  refuge,  and  had  begun  the  cultiva- 


28 


The  Mississippi 


tion  of  corn.  Their  harvest  the  preceding  year,  on  newly 
worked  land,  was  small;  but  much  corn  would  be  needed  for 
food  during  the  long  journey  thence  to  Quebec  with  beaver 
skins,  which  canoe  voyage,  requiring  a  month  or  more,  Groseil- 
liers  and  Radisson  wished  to  begin  soon  after  their  arrival 


at  the  island.  They  were  obliged  lo  remain  till  the  next 
year,  and  Groseilliers  spent  the  summer  on  Prairie  Island  and 
in  its  vicinity,  one  of  his  chief  objects  being  to  provide  a  large 
Bupply  of  corn  for  the  return  journey.     Meanwhile  Radisson 


The  French  Explorations  29 

went  with  hunting  parties,  and  travelled  "  four  months  .  .  . 
witliont  doing  an.ytliing  but  go  from  river  to  river."  He  was 
enamoured  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  country,  and  was 
astonished  at  its  herds  of  butfaloes  and  anteloi)es,  flocks  of 
pelicans,  and  the  shovel-nosed  sturgeon,  all  of  which  he  partic- 
ularly described.  Such  was  the  first  year,  KJo."),  of  observa- 
tions and  exploration  by  white  men  in  Minnesota,  and  their 
earliest  navigation  of  the  upi)er  part  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

During  the  summer  of  1655,  while  Groseilliers  was 
planting,  tending,  and  harvesting  corn  for  the  return 
journey  of  himself  and  his  attendants  in  the  following 
year,  Radisson  occupied  four  months  of  the  season  in 
hunting  excursions.  His  account  of  these  trips  is  so 
general  as  not  to  be  satisfactory.  Apparently,  he  de- 
sired to  have  posterity  believe  that  he  had  descended 
the  great  river  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Here  is  a 
verbatim  transcript: 

We  weare  4  moneths  in  our  voyage  without  doeing  anything 
but  goe  from  river  to  river.  We  mett  several  1  sorts  of  people. 
We  conversed  with  them,  being  long  time  in  alliance  with 
them.  By  the  persuasion  of  som  of  them  we  went  into  the 
great  river  that  divides  itselfe  in  2,  where  the  hurrons  with 
some  Ottanake  &  the  wildmen  that  had  warrs  with  them  had 
retired.  There  is  not  great  difference  in  their  language,  as 
we  weare  told.  This  nation  have  warrs  against  those  of  [the] 
forked  river.  It  is  so  called  because  it  has  2  branches,  the 
one  towards  the  west,  the  other  towai-ds  the  South,  which  we 
believe  runns  towards  Mexico,  by  the  tokens  they  gave  us.  Being 
among  these  people,  they  told  us  the  i)risoners  they  take  tells 
them  that  they  have  warrs  against  a  nation,  against  men  that 
build  great  cabbans  &  have  great  beards  &  had  such  knives 
as  we  had.  Moreover  they  shewed  a  Decad  of  beads  &  guilded 
pearls  that  they  have  had  from  that  people,  which  made  us 
believe  they  weare  Europeans.  They  shewed  one  of  that  na- 
tion that  was  taken  the  yeare  before.     We  understood  hira 


30  The  Mississippi 

not;  he  was  much  more  tawny  than  they  with  whome  we 
weare.  His  armes  &  leggs  weare  turned  outside;  that  was 
the  punishment  inflicted  uppon  him.  So  they  doe  with  them 
that  they  take,  &  kill  them  with  clubbs  &  doe  often  eat  them. 
They  doe  not  burne  their  prisoners  as  those  of  the  northern 
parts. 

We  weare  informed  of  that  nation  that  live  in  the  other 
river.  These  weare  men  of  extraordinary  height  &  biggnes^e, 
that  made  us  believe  they  had  no  communication  with  them. 
They  live  onely  uppon  Corne  &  Citrulles  [pumpkins],  which 
are  mighty  bigg.  They  have  fish  in  plenty  throughout  the 
yeare.  They  have  fruit  as  big  as  the  heart  of  on  Oriniak, 
which  grows  on  vast  trees  which  in  compasse  are  three  arnie- 
full  in  compasse.  When  they  see  litle  men  they  are  afraid 
&  cry  out,  which  makes  many  come  help  them.  Their  arrows 
are  not  of  stones  as  ours  are,  but  of  fish  boans  &  other  boans 
that  they  worke  greatly,  as  all  other  things.  Their  dishes  are 
made  of  wood.  I  having  seene  them,  could  not  but  admire 
the  curiosity  of  their  worke.  They  have  great  calumetts  of 
great  stones,  red  and  greene.  They  make  a  store  of  tobacco. 
They  have  a  kind  of  drink  that  makes  them  mad  for  a  whole 
day.  This  I  have  not  seene,  therefore  you  may  believe  as  you 
please. 

IVIr,  Upham  concludes  from  this  narrative  that  the 
Radisson  party  travelled  south-eastward,  through  what 
is  now  Illinois,  "  going  by  portages  from  one  river  to 
another,  until  they  reached  the  Illinois  River,  '  that 
divides  itself  in  two,'  so  described,  apparently,  because 
it  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Des  Plaines  and 
the  Kankakee,  each  an  important  canoe  route."  De- 
scending the  Illinois  to  the  ^Mississippi,  Radisson  prob- 
ably went  as  far  south  as  the  junction  of  the  big  muddy 
Missouri,  referred  to  as  an  important  canoe  route 
"  toward  the  west."  Upham  concludes  that  neither 
Groseilliers  nor  Radisson  was  aware  that  the  river  upon 


The  French  Explorations  31 

which  they  were  encamped,  at  Prairie  Island,  was  the 
eastern  or  main  branch  of  their  "  forked  river." 

The  great  council  held  on  Prairie  Island,  prior  to 
the  return  of  the  Frenchmen  to  civilisation,  must  al- 
ways command  a  place  in  the  earlj^  history  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  It  bears  so  many  earmarks  of 
veritability  that  Radisson  must  be  acquitted  of  ex- 
aggeration in  this  instance,  if  not  in  some  others. 
Probably  five  hundred  Indians  of  various  tribes  had 
assembled,  with  their  flotilla  of  birch  canoes,  to  accom- 
pany the  two  Frenchmen  to  Lower  Canada.  The 
Hurons,  who  had  accompanied  the  traders  the  previous 
year,  were  afraid  of  their  enemies,  then  uj)on  the  war 
paths  along  the  route.  The  dangers  of  the  return 
journey  took  away  the  courage  of  the  Indians,  and  they 
began  to  talk  about  waiting  until  another  year.  But 
Radisson,  as  soon  as  the  "  Council  of  Braves "  was 
assembled,  harangued  it. 

This  incident  occurred  toward  the  latter  part  of 
June.     Mr.  Upham  says: 

What  a  scene  for  a  painter  to  depict  Groseilliers  and  Radis- 
son pleading  before  eight  hundred  Indians!  On  each  side, 
tw'o  miles  away,  rise  the  wooded  bhiffs  that  inclose  this  valley 
and  its  islands.  In  a  beautiful  prairie  area,  the  motley  crowd 
of  savages  are  sitting  or  lying  upon  the  ground.  At  the 
centre  of  the  assemblage,  these  two  courageous  Frenchmen 
are  striving  to  persuade  their  dusky  auditors  to  set  out  on 
the  first  commercial  venture  connecting  this  region  with 
civilisation. 

The  eloquence  of  Radisson  prevailed.  Accom- 
panied by  several  hundred  Hurons  and  other  Algon- 
quins   (Radisson  says  five  hundred),  and  "carrying  a 


32  The  Mississippi 

most  welcome  freight  of  furs,"  GroseiUiers  and  Radis- 
son  arrived  in  Montreal  and  Quehec  in  iVugust,  1656. 

The  second  western  expedition  of  GroseiUiers  and 
Radisson  did  not  occur  until  two  or  three  years  later. 
Historians  never  will  agree  whether  the  two  French- 
men started  in  1658  or  1659,  although  the  Radisson 
account  explicitly  enumerates  the  events  of  two  years, 
which  perforce  would  have  marked  the  summer  of  1658 
as  the  time  at  which  the  journey  began,  because  the 
return  of  the  party  in  August,  1660,  is  proved  by  sev- 
eral concurring  records.  Again  there  is  a  clash  with 
the  "  Journal "  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  which  indicates 
that  the  party  was  away  only  one  year.  Upham 
charges  Radisson  with  deliberately  adding  a  year  dur- 
ing which  he  asserted  that  he  made  a  journey  to  Hud- 
son Bay.  In  any  event,  the  charge  does  not  affect  the 
GroseiUiers  and  Radisson  explorations  in  northern  Min- 
nesota. The  Jesuits  might  not  have  known  of  the  year's 
voyaging  to  the  far  North.  Upham  insists  that  records 
at  Montreal,  Three  Rivers,  and  Quebec  show  that  the 
party  was  absent  about  twelve  months.  That  is  vital,  so 
far  as  affecting  the  credibility  of  the  alleged  Hudson 
Bay  trip,  but  it  does  not  concern  the  parts  of  the 
Radisson  narrative  that  interest  us. 

After  more  elaborate  preparations  than  on  the  first 
journey  beyond  Lake  Superior,  the  two  brothers-in-law 
paddled  away  from  Three  Rivers  amid  the  darkness  of 
night,  because  the  Governor  of  Quebec,  Argenson,  had 
expressly  refused  to  sanction  the  expedition  on  terms 
proposed  by  the  explorers  and  had  followed  that  re- 
fusal with  a  specific  prohibition.  The  journey  up  the 
Ottawa  River  was  attended  by  several  sl^irmishes  with 
roving  bands  of  Iroquois.     Some  of  the  best  written 


The  French  lixplorations  s;^ 

passages  in  Radisson  are  his  descriptions  of  the  craft 
and  wariness  of  Indian  warfare;  he  understood  the  ah- 
original  nature  as  well  as  Fenimore  Cooper.  Twenty- 
two  days  of  frequent  danger  and  constant  hardshij) 
hrought  the  canoe  flotilla  into  Georgian  Bay,  which 
Radisson  describes  as  "  a  sweet  sea."  Following  the 
east  coast  northward  they  came  to  the  Sault  Ste. 
INIarie,  "  overflowing  from  Lake  Superior."  Jean 
Nicolet,  w^ith  seven  Huron  canoemen,  had  ascended  the 
Sault  just  twenty-five  years  before  (1634),  and  had 
cast  the  first  European  eyes  upon  "  The  Big  Sea 
Water," — as  Superior  w^as  known  to  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  region.  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  became  the 
first  white  men  to  navigate  its  length  and  to  enter  the 
territoiy  now  known  as  northern  Wisconsin  and  Min- 
nesota. Radisson's  description  of  the  landmarks  along 
the  south  coast  of  Superior  are  accurate  and  prove  his 
presence  there.  He  makes  first  mention  of  the  high 
sand  dunes  near  Point  au  Sable,  about  one  hundred 
miles  beyond  the  Sault.  Fifteen  miles  farther,  south- 
westward  from  Point  au  Sable,  he  locates  with  ac- 
curacy the  Grand  Portal,  or  Arched  Rock,  a  natural 
wonder  to  this  day.  Also,  the  Keweenaw  peninsula, 
which  projects  fifty  miles  into  the  lake,  and  the  portage, 
which  saved  eight  days'  paddling  around  the  head- 
land, are  described.  Five  days  of  canoeing  beyond  the 
western  end  of  the  Keweenaw  portage  brought  the 
voyageurs  to  a  camp  of  Crees,  on  the  shore,  where  they 
were  welcomed.  A  few  days  later,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Montreal  River,  some  boats'  crews  of  Ojibwas,  the 
men  in  which  had  voyaged  with  the  party  from  the 
Sault,  turned  their  boats  into  that  stream,  returning 
to  their  own  country.     The  main  party,  however,  con- 


34  The  Mississippi 

tinued  westward  along  the  coast  half  a  day's  paddling 
to  Chequamegon  Bay,  which  hecame  their  base  for  de- 
parture inland  and  for  their  subsequent  return  home- 
ward. This  headquarters  was  about  the  site  of  the 
present  town  of  Ashland. 

A  stockade  was  erected,  to  protect  the  party  from 
sudden  attacks  by  the  natives,  until  a  start  for  the 
interior  could  be  made.  Having  arrived  so  late  in  the 
fall,  the  determination  of  the  Frenchmen  not  to  winter 
on  the  coast  is  inexplicable.  They  had  heard  of  a 
large  Indian  settlement  about  sixty  miles  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  St.  Croix  River,  by  which  in  the  spring 
they  intended  to  descend  to  the  Mississippi.  This 
community  was  on  the  shore  of  what  was  later  called 
"  Ottawa  Lake."  It  is  now  identified  as  Lac  Courte 
Oreille.  The  natives  of  the  tribe  had  not  among  them 
an  organising  mind  like  that  of  Groseilliers  at  Prairie 
Island  to  prepare  a  store  of  corn  for  the  bleak  winter: 
the  result  was  that  the  Frenchmen  and  their  carriers 
became  a  further  addition  to  the  half-starving  settle- 
ment before  the  rigours  of  winter  began.  The  situation 
grew  rapidly  worse.  Those  who  have  doubted  the  ac- 
curacy of  "  The  Famine,"  as  portrayed  in  Longfellow's 
Hiawatha^  will  do  well  to  compare  the  poem  with 
Radisson's  account  of  the  sufferings  of  himself  and 
party  that  winter.  According  to  Upham,  "  the  narra- 
tion shows  that  the  winter  began  while  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  were  guests,  as  we  may  say,  of  the  Huron  and 
Menominee  Indians,  probably  at  Lac  Courte  Oreille, 
near  Hayward,  Wisconsin.  The  first  snowfall,  and  the 
ensuing  separation  of  the  Indians  into  parties  of  two 
or  three  for  procuring  sustenance  by  hunting,  took  place, 
as  we  must  suppose,  in  the  later  part  of  October  or 


The  French  Explorations  35 

early  November,  1659.  Two  months  and  a  half  later, 
that  is,  shortly  after  New  Year's  day  of  1660,  they  came 
together  at  '  the  small  lake,  the  place  of  rendezvous '  in 
the  country  of  the  Sioux." 

Radisson's  description  of  the  reassembling  and  the 
famine  that  followed,  turned  into  modern  English,  is 
highly  realistic: 

We  are  come  to  the  small  lake,  the  place  of  rendezvous, 
where  we  found  some  people  who  had  preceded  us.  We  built 
huts,  waiting:  for  those  that  came  in  day  by  day.  We  re- 
mained fourteen  days  at  this  place,  dismal  as  a  churchyard; 
for  a  heavy  snow  fell,  preceded  by  mist  that  caused  the  snow 
to  stick  to  the  rough-barked  trees.  The  snow  was  so  fine  that 
it  would  not  bear  our  weight  and  although  we  made  racketts 
six  feet  long  and  a  foot  and  a  half  broad  we  could  not  travel 
upon  them. 

The  famine  grew  worse  daily.  Beasts  of  the  forests  had 
been  frightened  away,  hunting  was  unprofitable.  To  augment 
our  misery,  we  received  news  from  the  Octanaks,  a  tribe  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  including  women  and  children.  They 
had  had  a  quarrel  with  the  Hurons  on  the  island  where  we 
had  been  some  years  before  in  the  Lake  of  the  Staring  Hairs 
[Bois  Blanc  Island,  as  identified  by  Campbell,  in  Lake  Huron. 
— Upham],  threatening  to  make  war  upon  them  in  the  coming 
summer.  Did  they  bring  anything  upon  which  to  subsist? 
Nothing;  they  are  worse  provided  than  are  we:  not  having 
any  huntsmen,  they  are  reduced  to  famine.  O,  cursed  covet- 
ousness,  what  art  thou  going  to  do?  It  were  far  better  that 
a  company  of  rogues  perish  than  that  we  be  in  danger  of  a 
fate  so  cruel.  They  kept  victuals  from  their  own  poor  child- 
ren, those  dogs.  They  are  the  cursedest,  un  ablest,  and 
cowardliest  people  I  have  seen  amongst  fourscore  nations! 
Every  one  cries  with  hunger;  the  women  become  barren  and 
the  breasts  of  nursing  mothers  dry  like  wood.  You  men  must 
eat  the  bow-string,  seeing  you  have  not  strength  to  use  the 
bow.     Children,   you  must  die!     Ye   French,   who   call   your- 


36  The  Mississippi 

selves  Gods  of  the  earth,  hoping  to  make  yourselves  feared; 
but  you,  too,  shall  taste  of  this  bitterness. 

Oh !  If  the  music  we  hear  could  give  to  us  hope :  we  need 
not  for  lamentable  sounds  nor  sad  spectacles.  In  the  morn- 
ing, the  husband  looks  upon  his  wife,  the  brother  upon  his 
sister,  the  cousin  upon  cousin,  the  uncle  upon  nephew  found 
dead  in  their  cabins.  The  living  languish  with  cries  and  hide- 
ous lamentations.  Good  God,  have  mercy  upon  these  unfortu- 
nate, innocent  people!  Of  us  that  acknowledge  Thee  and  have 
offended,  punish  us !  True,  we  also  have  the  executioner  among 
us.  Those  of  us  that  are  able,  seek  roots  which  are  found 
with  much  difficulty.  The  earth  is  frozen  two  and  three  feet 
deep  and  the  snow  lies  five  and  six  feet  upon  it.  Our  chief 
subsistence  is  a  vine  with  a  rind  that  grows  upon  trees  like 
ivy.  We  cut  this  vine  into  short  pieces,  boil  them  until  the 
skin  loosens.  This  we  dry  in  the  smoke  and  grind  to  powder 
between  two  stones,  making  a  broth.  It  causes  much  thirst, 
however. 

We  ate  our  dogs  during  the  first  fortnight.  Next,  we  de- 
voured the  pelts  we  had  reserved  for  shoes,  clothes,  and  socks, 
especially  the  beaver  skins  that  were  the  walls  of  our  cottages. 
We  burned  off  the  hair  upon  the  coals.  All  these  abhorrent 
things,  we  devoured.  So  eagerly  did  we  eat  that  our  gums 
did  bleed!  The  bark  mentioned  was  our  only  food  the  rest 
of  the  sorrowful  time.  We  finally  became  images  of  Death! 
We  frequently  mistook  ourselves,  taking  the  living  for  the 
dead  and  the  dead  for  the  living.  We  wanted  strength  to 
draw  our  friends  out  of  the  cabins,  and  when  we  had  to  do 
so  it  was  to  put  them  four  paces  in  the  snow.  At  the  end, 
the  wrath  of  God  begins  to  be  appeased.  A  large  volume 
would  not  contain  the  details  of  our  sufferings.  There  were 
above  five  hundred  dead, — men,  women,  and  children.  When 
we  had  abandoned  hope,  a  few  small,  lean  stags  came  our 
way.  They  were  easily  run  down,  because  their  feet  stuck 
in  the  deep  snow.  Their  throats  were  readily  cut.  I  forgot 
to  mention  that  the  wildmeu  [Indians]  charged  us  with  having 
food  surreptitiously  brought  to  us  by  devils.  Our  sufferings 
were  as  great  as  any,  but  we  did  not  give  up,  as  did  the 
natives. 


The  French  Explorations 


37 


Except  for  the  fact  that  the  Radisson  manuscripts 
were  not  discovered  at  Oxford  until  many  years  after 
Longfellow  had  published  Hiawatha,  the  presumption 
would  be  fair  that  he  had  drawn  his  facts  and  inspiration 
from  them.  Here  is  Canto  XX.,  entitled  "  The  Famine" : 


O  the  long  and  dreary  Winter! 
O  the  cold  and  cruel  Winter! 
Ever  thicker,  thicker,  thicker 
Froze  the  ice  on  lake  and  river, 
Ever  deeper,  deeper,  deeper 
Fell  the   snow  o'er  all  the  land- 
scape. 
Fell     the     covering     snow,     and 

drifted 
Through    the    forest,    round    the 
village. 
Hardly    from   his    buried    wig- 
wam 
Could  the  hunter  force  a  passage ; 
With   his  mittens   and  his   snow- 
shoes 
Vainly  walked  he  through  the  for- 
est, 
Sought    for    bird    or    beast    and 

found  none, 
Saw  no  track  of  deer  or  rabbit, 
In  the  snow  beheld  no  footprints, 
In  the  ghastly,  gleaming  forest 
Fell,    and    could    not    rise    from 

weakness, 
Perished  there  from  cold  and  hun- 
ger. 
0  the  famine  and  the  fever! 
O  the  wasting  of  the  famine ! 
O  the  blasting  of  the  fever! 
O  the  wailing  of  the  children ! 
0  the  anguish  of  the  women! 
All    the    earth    was    sick    and 
famished; 
Hungry  was  the  air  around  them, 
Hungry  was  the  sky  above  them, 
And  the  hungry  stars  in  heaven 
Like  the  eyes  of  wolves  glared  at 
them! 
Into  Hiawatha's  wigwam 
Came  two  other  guests,  as  silent 
As    the    ghosts    were,    and    as 

gloomy. 
Waited  not  to  be  invited, 
Did  not  parley  at  the  doorway. 
Sat   there   without  word   of  wel- 


In  the  seat  of  Laughing  Water; 

Looked    with    haggard    eyes    and 
hollow 

At  the  face  of  Laughing  Water. 
And   the   foremost    said:    "Be- 
hold me! 

I  am  Famine,  Bukadawin!  " 

And  the  other  said:  "  Behold  me! 

I  am  Fever,  Ahkosewin!  " 
And  the  lovely  Minnehaha 

Shuddered    as    they   looked    upon 
her. 

Shuddered  at  the  words  they  ut- 
tered. 

Lay  down  on  her  bed  in  silence, 

Hid  her  face,  but  made  no  answer; 

Lay    there     trembling,     freezing, 
burning 

At  the  looks  they  cast  upon  her. 

At  the  fearful  words  they  uttered. 
Forth  into  the  empty  forest 

Rushed  the  maddened  Hiawatha; 

In  his  heart  was  deadly  sorrow, 

In  his  face  a  stony  firmness; 

On  his  brow  the  sweat  of  anguish 

Started,  but  it  froze  and  fell  not. 

"  Gitche  Manito  the  Mighty!  " 
Cried  he  with  his  face  uplifted 
In  that  bitter  hour  of  anguish, 
"  Give     your     children     food,     O 

father! 
Give  us  food,  or  we  must  perish! 
Give  me  food  for  Minnehaha, 
For  my  dying  Minnehaha!  " 

Through     the     far  -  resounding 
forest. 
Through  the  forest  vast  and  va- 
cant 
Rang  that  cry  of  desolation. 
But  there  came  no  other  answer 
Than  the  echo  of  his  ci-ying, 
Than  the  echo  of  the  woodlands, 
"Minnehaha!  Minnehaha!" 


In  the  wigwam  with  Nokomis, 


38 


The  Mississippi 


With    those    gloomy   guests,   that 

watched  her, 
With  the  Famine  and  the  Fever, 
She  was  lying,  the  Beloved, 
She  the  dying  Minnehaha. 
"Hark!"  she  said;  "I  hear  a 
rushing. 
Hear  a  roaring  and  a  rushing, 
Hear  the  Falls  of  Minnehaha 
Calling  to  me  from  a  distance!  " 
"No,  my  child!"  said  old  Noko- 

mis, 
"  'T  is  the  night-wind  in  the  pine- 
trees  !  " 
"Look!"  she  said;  "I  see  my 
father 
Standing  lonely  at  his  doorway, 
Beckoning  to  me   from   his  wig- 
wam 
In  the  land  of  the  Dacotahs !  " 
"No,  my  child!"  said  old  Noko- 

mis, 
"  'T  is  the  smoke,  that  waves  and 
beckons!  " 
"  Ah !  "  she  said,  "  the  eyes  of 
Pauguk 
Glare  upon  me  in  the  darkness, 
I  can  feel  his  icy  fingers 
Clasping  mine  amid  the  darkness! 
Hiawatha!  Hiawatha!" 

And  the  desolate  Hiawatha, 
Far  away  amid  the  forest. 
Miles  away  among  the  mountains, 
Heard  that  sudden  cry  of  anguish. 
Heard  the  voice  of  Minnehaha 
Calling  to  him  in  the  darkness, 
"  Hiawatha !   Hiawatha !  " 

Over     snow-fields     waste     and 
pathless. 
Under  snow-encumbered  branches. 
Homeward  hurried  Hiawatha, 
Empty-handed,  heavy-hearted, 
Heard  Xokomis  moaning,  wailing: 
"Wahonowin!  Wahonowin! 
Would   that   I   had   perished  for 
you, 


Would  that  I  were  dead  as  you 

are! 
Wahonowin !  Wahonowin !  " 
And   he    rushed   into   the   wig- 
wam, 
Saw  the  old  Nokomis  slowly 
Rocking  to  and  fro  and  moaning, 
Saw  his  lovely  Minnehaha 
Lying  dead  and  cold  before  him. 
And    his    bursting    heart    within 

him 
Uttered  such  a  cry  of  anguish. 
That  the  forest  moaned  and  shud- 
dered. 
That  the  very  stars  in  heaven 
Shook  and  trembled  with  his  an- 
guish. 
Then    he    sat    down,    still    and 
speechless. 
On  the  bed  of  Minnehaha, 
At  the  feet  of  Laughing  Water, 
At  those  willing  feet,  that  never 
More  would  lightly  run  to  meet 

him. 
Nevermore  would  lightly  follow. 
With   both   hands   his    face   he 
covered. 
Seven   long   days   and   nights   he 

sat  there. 
As  if  in  a  swoon  he  sat  there. 
Speechless,      motionless,      uncon- 
scious 
Of  the  daylight  or  the  darkness. 
Then  they  buried  Minnehaha; 
In  the  snow  a  grave  they  made 

her, 
In  the  forest  deep  and  darksome. 
Underneath    the    moaning    hem- 
locks; 
Clothed   her   in   her   richest   gar- 
ments. 
Wrapped    her    in    her    robes    of 

ermine. 
Covered  her   with   snow,  like   er- 
mine; 
Thus  they  buried  Minnehaha. 


Warren  Upham  and  J.  V.  B rower  agree  that  the 
"  small  lake  "  was  Knife  Lake,  Minnesota,  about  fif- 
teen miles  south-east  from  Mille  Lacs,  the  latter  a  large 
body  of  shallow  water,   with  numerous  islands,   that 


The  French  Explorations  39 

drains  southward  into  the  JNIississippi  through  the  Ruin 
River.  Knife  Lake  is  about  ninety  miles  due  west  of 
Lac  Courte  Oreille.  Had  the  river  St.  Croix  not  been 
frozen,  the  party  could  have  descended  to  their  former 
home  on  Prairie  Island,  where,  no  doubt,  they  would 
have  had  to  reconquer  the  lands  from  the  Sioux  that 
had  driven  away  the  Hurons,  whom  the  Frenchmen  had 
left  in  possession  three  years  before.  As  Radisson  re- 
ports, five  hundred  people  died  of  famine  and  pestilence 
at  the  Knife  Lake  settlement  that  winter!  He  and 
Groseilliers  narrowly  escaped  the  same  fate. 

When  spring  came,  the  Frenchmen  were  as  intent 
as  they  had  originally  been  upon  a  great  feast  for  the 
Indians  of  the  surrounding  country.  Prior  to  going 
into  winter  quarters  they  had  sent  w^ord  to  the  eighteen 
settlements  of  Sioux,  also  to  the  Ojibwas,  and  they  now 
summoned  the  Crees  from  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior. 
That  feast  caused  native  and  foreigner  alike  to  forget 
the  terrible  winter.  Radisson's  account  of  the  enter- 
tainment would  do  credit  to  a  society  writer.  Groseil- 
liers and  Radisson  were  famous  among  the  natives  as 
"  chin-chin  men."  The  latter  of  the  two  strangers  was 
the  better  orator  but  the  former  was  probably  more 
familiar  with  the  Indian  languages.  The  effect  of  the 
three  weeks'  entertainment  by  the  tw^o  Frenchmen  was 
felt  among  the  Crees  and  Dakotas  for  two  hmidred 
years!  It  probably  saved  thousands  of  human  lives,  as 
white  settlers  began  to  enter  the  "  wildman's  country^" 
and  it  made  missionary  work  among  the  natives  less 
dangerous. 

At  the  close  of  the  feast,  Groseilliers  and  Radisson, 
inseparable  on  this  journey,  accompanied  the  Tinton- 
wan  Sioux  bands  on  a  visit  to  their  homes,  far  to  the 


40  The  Mississippi 

westward  of  the  INIississippi.  Their  route  is  not  as 
clearly  defined  as  could  he  wished,  but  authorities  agree 
that  the  party  descended  the  Rum  River  to  the  ^Nlissis- 
sippi  at  the  present  site  of  Anoka,  thence  by  a  land 
route  to  the  JNIinnesota  River,  which  was  ascended  to  the 
prairie  country.^  Mr.  J.  V.  Brower,  to  whom  the  peo- 
ple of  United  States  owe  Itasca  Park,  at  the  sources 
of  the  jNIississippi,  argued  that  the  Frenchmen  returned 
with  their  Sioux  hosts  to  the  sources  of  Crow  River, 
which  joins  the  JNIississippi  eight  miles  above  Anoka, 
and  did  not  go  near  the  ^linnesota  River.  It  will  be 
noticed  on  a  map  that  the  ]Minnesota  makes  a  long 
detour  to  the  southward  before  it  starts  upon  its  north- 
westerly course.  Brower's  argument  is  based  upon  the 
non-reference  of  Radisson  to  St.  Anthony's  Falls,  a 
very  tenable  reason.  Whichever  route  they  travelled 
to  "  the  Sioux  of  Buffalo  Land  "  they  are  believed  to 
have  returned  by  the  Minnesota  and  to  have  encamped 
under  the  bluff  upon  which  Saint  Paul  stands.  The 
rocky  heights  of  Fort  Snelling  did  not  have  the 
picturesque,  casemated  castle  that  afterward  crowned 
them. 

The  return  to  the  stockade  at  Chequamegon  Bay, 
Lake  Superior,  was  made  by  very  much  the  same  route 
as  that  over  which  they  had  entered  the  country.  At 
this  point  appear  several  irreconcilable  points  in  the 
narrative, — probably  due  to  changes  subsequently 
made  to  introduce  the  F[udson  Bay  "  diversion,"  which 
the  best  of  evidence  proves  never  occurred.  But  it 
appears  credible  that  in  the  early  part  of  1660,   the 

1  Mr.  Upham  discusses  the  mystery  of  non-reference  to  St.  An- 
thony's Falls  by  Radisson  in  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections, 
vol.  X.,  Part  II,  pp.  502-503.— J.  C. 


The  French  Explorations  41 

western  end  of  Lake  Superior  was  encumbered  with 
broken  ice.  Mr.  Upham  cites  a  paper  read  before  the 
lilinnesota  Historical  Society  in  1898  by  John  R.  Carey, 
in  which  the  statement  is  made  that  he,  the  speaker, 
*'  knew  two  men  who  got  off  a  steamboat  that  had  been 
stuck  in  the  ice  in  sight  of  Duluth  for  several  days,  on 
June  9th,  about  forty  years  ago,  and  walked  to  the 
shore,  a  distance  of  six  miles."  Residents  of  Duluth 
assure  me  that  such  conditions  are  very  exceptional. 
But  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  pushed  their  way  across 
the  western  end  of  Lake  Superior  that  June,  to  trade 
with  pelt  hunters  of  the  St.  Louis  River,  not  far  from 
the  present  site  of  the  town  of  Two  Harbours.  The 
Frenchmen  returned  to  their  base  on  Chequamegon  Bay 
and  outfitted  for  the  seven  or  eight  weeks'  homeward 
journey  to  Three  Rivers.  There  is  no  available  space 
to  give  to  that  voyage. 

The  importance  of  the  two  expeditions  of  Groseil- 
liers and  Radisson  is  such  that  it  is  not  greatly  dwarfed 
by  the  incontestable  fact  that  they  failed  to  realise 
the  magnitude  of  their  discoveries.  Radisson  was  not 
the  braggart  that  others  who  followed  him  became. 
For  genuine  pioneership  these  Frenchmen  stand  un- 
challenged. Radisson  also  belongs  to  literature,  because 
modern  spelling  and  a  moderate  resort  to  the  blue  pen- 
cil— the  lash  under  which  all  inexperienced  writers  of 
diaries  have  to  go — would  render  some  of  his  work 
equal  to  Parkman  or  the  best  of  Cooper.  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  have  left  their  footprints  so  plainly  in 
Wisconsin  and  JNIinnesota  that  time  never  will  efface 
them. 

Mr.  Upham  sums  up  the  work  of  these  two  men 
admirably  when  he  says: 


42  The  Mississippi 

Among  all  the  very  interesting  records  of  negotiations  and 
treaties  of  "  peace  and  union/'  made  with  the  Indians  of  the 
North-west  by  forerunners  and  agents  of  the  French  fur-trade, 
none  is  more  picturesque  and  dramatic  than  this.  In  the  late 
autumn  or  winter  of  1G34-35,  Jean  Nicolet,  wearing  a  fan- 
tastic silken  Chinese  vestment,  met  the  Winnebago  Indians 
for  a  ceremonious  conference,  in  the  vague  belief  that  their 
country  might  border  on  the  farthest  eastern  parts  of  Asia. 
In  16G0,  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  as  we  have  seen,  probably 
within  the  area  of  Kanabec  county,  in  the  east  central  part 
of  Minnesota,  taught  to  the  Sioux  and  the  Crees,  previously 
hostile  to  each  other,  peace  and  friendship  toward  the  French. 
In  1670,  Du  Luth  ceremoniously  planted  the  arms  of  France 
in  the  great  village  of  the  Isanti  tribe  at  Mille  Lacs,  and  in 
other  Sioux  villages  of  north-eastern  Minnesota,  none  of  which, 
as  he  says,  had  been  before  visited  by  any  Frenchman;  and 
on  the  15th  of  September  in  that  year,  at  the  west  end  of 
Lake  Superior,  he  negotiated  a  great  treaty  with  the  as- 
sembled tribes  of  the  north,  inducing  them  to  make  peace 
with  the  Sioux,  "  their  common  enemy."  During  the  remain- 
ing years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Perrot,  in  1689,  at  Fort 
St.  Antoine,  on  the  Wisconsin  shore  of  Lake  Pepin,  and  Le 
Sueur  in  1693  at  Chequamegon  Bay,  later  at  his  trading  post 
built  on  Prairie  Island  in  1695  according  to  the  command  of 
the  Governor  of  Canada,  and  again  in  the  winter  of  1700  at 
his  Fort  L'Huillier,  on  the  Blue  Earth  River,  were  conspicuous 
by  their  efforts  to  maintain  peace  among  the  Indian  tribes, 
loyalty  to  the  French,  and  consequent  extension  and  prosi)erity 
of  the  fur-trade. 

We  may  thank  Radisson  for  his  particular  care  to  describe 
the  Sioux  who  attended  the  great  feast.  He  thus  gave  the 
earliest  portrayal  of  the  characteristics  of  that  people,  the 
aboriginal  owners  of  the  greater  part  of  Minnesota.  It  is  to 
be  regretted,  however,  that  he  recorded  only  a  very  meagre 
account  of  the  ensuing  visit  of  these  French  traders  with  the 
Sioux  of  the  Buffalo  Prairies  ("the  Nation  of  the  Beef") 
in  their  own  country. 


The  French  Explorations  43 

III AI.LOUEZ   FINDS   A  NAME 

The  pioneer  voyages  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
had  been  inspired  by  hope  of  commercial  gain;  but  we 
are  now  to  witness  the  powerful  influence  of  religion 
in  the  field  of  exploration. 

When  the  flotilla  of  native  canoes  that  came  every 
spring  to  French  settlements  on  the  St.  Lawrence  was 
ready  in  the  autumn  of  1665  to  begin  the  homeward 
voyage  to  "  The  Big  Sea  Water,"  Father  Allouez 
joined  it. 

The  party  arrived  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  on  Sep- 
tember 2d.  Before  the  great  lake  froze,  Allouez  had 
proceeded  to  the  western  end  of  Suf)erior  and  had 
planted  a  cross  and  founded  a  mission  at  La  Pointe, 
on  Chequamegon  Bay,  near  the  site  of  the  present  town 
of  Ashland.  Of  the  hardships  of  that  lotig  trip,  no 
record  remains.  Diplomatist,  as  well  as  priest,  Al- 
louez made  friends  with  eight  hundred  Algonquin  war- 
riors in  the  neighbourhood  of  La  Pointe  and  took  sides 
with  them  against  their  traditional  enemies,  the  Iro- 
quois. He  recognised  the  efficacy  of  the  war  club,  the 
tomahawk,  and  the  arrow  when  needed  to  convince  a 
foe  of  error.  During  his  intercourse  with  various  tribes 
along  the  coast  of  the  Gitche  Gumee  ("The  Shining 
Big  Sea  Water  ") ,  Allouez  first  heard  the  name  "  JNIis- 
sipi"  applied  to  "The  Great  Running  Water."  He  was 
of  opinion  that  the  river  flowed  into  the  Sea  of  Vir- 
ginia (Chesapeake).  It  is  significant  that  neither 
Groseilliers  nor  Radisson  had  brought  back  that  name! 
Lack  of  knowledge  of  the  languages  of  the  region  may 
explain,  but  hardly  to  the  satisfaction  of  doubters. 


44  The  Mississippi 

At  the  Sault  Ste.  INIarie  mission,  Fathers  Marquette 
and  Dablon  had  been  labouring  for  two  years  before  the 
former  was  despatched  westward  to  La  Pointe  in  Sep- 
tember, 1669,  to  reheve  Allouez,  who  voyaged  to  the 
head  of  Green  Bay,  on  Lake  INIichigan,  to  exert  the 
reformatory  influences  of  religion  upon  a  band  of 
French  coureurs  de  hois  that  had  demoralised  the  na- 
tive of  that  locality.  Allouez  arrived  in  early  winter 
and  established  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  among 
the  Pottawattomies.  In  the  spring  of  1670,  he  as- 
cended the  Fox  River,  portaged  to  the  head  of  the  Wis- 
consin, which,  he  recorded  in  his  next  report  to  Quebec, 
"  led  to  the  great  river  '  ^lessisipi,'  six  days'  journey 
by  canoe."  The  Jesuit  "Relation  "  of  the  years  1669-70, 
to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  frequently, 
specifically  mentions  this  river  again,  Allouez  adding: 
*'  It  is  more  than  a  league  [2.76  miles]  wide,  and  flows 
from  North  to  South.  The  natives  never  have  reached 
its  mouth:  none  of  them  knows  whether  it  empties  into 
the  Gulf  of  Florida  or  the  Vermilion  Sea"  (Gulf  of 
California). 

This  information  is  somewhat  more  definite  than 
had  been  learned  four  years  previously  bj'  the  same 
missionary,  when  he  had  first  heard  the  name  "  Mis- 
sipi."  This  earnest  man  filled  ^larquette's  mind  with 
a  sincere  longing  to  become  an  explorer.  Accounts  of 
the  great  stream  had  appeared  in  the  "  Relations," 
compiled  at  Quebec  from  the  reports  of  Jesuit  Fathers 
(Allouez  does  not  appear  to  have  heard  of  Groseil- 
liers  and  Radisson),  and,  as  he  supposed,  JNIarquette 
determined  to  be  first  of  all  white  men  upon  the  river. 
He  wrote,  "  If  I  get  a  canoe  which  the  natives  have 
promised  to  make  for  me,   I  intend  to  navigate  this 


The  French  Explorations  45 

stream,  to  meet  the  tribes  far  down  its  course,  and  to 
decide  the  ultimate  direction  of  its  flow."  He  added 
that  he  would  take  wdth  him  a  Frenchman  (probably 
a  converted  coureur  de  hois)  who  spoke  the  languages 
of  the  natives.  He  uses  the  full  word  "  Mississippi,'* 
variously  spelled.  The  "Relation"  of  1671  reports 
that  Indians  who  had  seen  both  rivers  declared 
that  "  for  more  than  three  hundred  leagues  from 
its  mouth  it  is  wider  than  the  St.  Lawrence  at 
Quebec." 

A  new  name  of  which  we  shall  hear  much,  that  of 
Louis  Joliet,  comes  to  the  fore.  An  expedition  to  the 
Great  Lakes,  in  search  of  copper  mines,  led  by  him, 
had  returned,  unsuccessful.  In  the  spring  of  1671,  we 
hear  of  him  as  a  member  of  the  imposing  pageant 
headed  by  Simon  Fran9ois  Daumont,  Sieur  St.  Lus- 
son,  sent  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  to  impress  the  natives 
wdth  the  majesty  and  glory  of  France.  This  cere- 
monial, fully  described  in  the  "Relation"  of  1671,  oc- 
curred on  June  14th,  of  that  year.  At  this  durbar,  or 
function,  St.  Lusson  "  assumed  power  for  the  French 
sovereign  over  all  the  territory  from  the  North  to  the 
South  Sea  and  extending  to  the  ocean  on  the  w^est." 
Not  a  signatory  of  that  presumptuous  document  knew 
the  extent  of  the  territory  to  wdiich  claim  ^vas  made. 
It  had  for  fair  precedent  the  bull  of  Alexander  VI! 
The  four  immortal  names  signed  to  that  paper  are  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  Claude  Dablon,  Louis  Andre,  Gabriel 
Druillettes,  and  Claude  Allouez.  The  masterly  but 
florid  speech  of  Allouez  to  the  assembled  savages, 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  Superior,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan  regions,  is  a  classic.  It  w^as  preserved  by 
Father  Dablon.     When  the  ceremonial  ended,  we  hear 


46  The    Mississippi 

nothing  more  of  Louis  Johet  for  two  years,  when  he 
and  INIarquette  loom  large  in  history. 

It  is  not  necessar}^  to  attach  great  importance  to 
the  only  account  that  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  ex- 
pedition of  the  Spanish  Governor  of  New  jNIexico,  who, 
at  an  unknown  date  in  1661,  set  out  from  Santa  Fe 
"  to  visit  the  'Quivera'  Indians."  The  "Relation"  is  by 
the  hand  of  Father  Nicholas  Freytas,  chronicler  of  the 
expedition,  and  the  only  possible  claim  to  credibility 
that  can  be  set  up  for  it  is  that  it  mentions  the  name 
of  the  great  river.  If  that  word  were  not  interpolated 
at  a  later  date  by  some  jealous  rival  of  Father  Allouez, 
Frej'^tas  and  not  Allouez  must  be  given  credit  for  first 
introducing  the  word  "  INIischipi  "  to  the  civilised  world. 
Here  is  the  paragraph  upon  which  the  Freytas  claim 
stands  or  falls: 

"  Through  these  most  pleasant  and  fertile  fields  we 
marched  during  the  months  of  ^larch,  April,  IMay,  and 
the  kalends  of  June,  and  arrived  at  a  large  river  which 
they  call  '  JMischipi,'  where  we  saw  the  first  Indians 
of  the  Escanxaques  nation,  who  might  be  to  the  number 
of  three  thousand,  most  warlike." 

The  almost  conclusive  argument  against  the  Freytas 
claim  to  first  mention  of  this  Algonquin  name  for  the 
Mississippi  is  that  the  Penalosa  expedition  did  not  pass 
anywhere  near  the  lands  in  which  the  Algonquins  dwelt. 
The  name  "  Quiveras  "  does  not  appear  in  any  other 
"  Relation."  If  they  w^ere  adjacent  to  the  Arkansas  na- 
tion, Tonty,  La  Salle,  or  Bienville  would  have  been 
very  likely  to  have  heard  of  them  and  to  have  left 
some  record  of  their  location.  The  distance  from  Santa 
Fe  to  the  Mississippi,  as  the  crow  flies,  is  about  eight 
hundred  miles,  which  assuredly  might  have  been  tra- 


The  French  Explorations  47 

versed  in  the  hundred  days  chiinied  hy  the  chronicler 
for  the  undertaking.  Governor  Penalosa  was  the  last 
of  the  Spaniards  for  whom  any  original  discovery  asso- 
ciated with  the  great  American  river  has  heen  claimed. 
Father  Freytas  locates  the  Escanxaques  as  "  having 
north  of  them  the  Land  of  Fire  "  (/.  e.  the  Maskoutens 
country) . 

IV WONDERFUL  LA  SALLE ! 

A  member  of  a  rich  Rouen  family,  Rene  Robert 
Cavelier,  known  to  history  as  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  had 
appeared  at  Montreal  several  years  previously.  He 
had  come  ostensibly  to  visit  a  brother  in  Canada  be- 
longing to  the  Sulpitian  order.  Hennepin  has  declared 
that  this  young  man  of  twenty-three  had  been  a  Jesuit 
novice  in  France,  but  not  a  particle  of  proof  exists. 
An  early  act  of  his  was  to  join  the  Sulpitian  Fathers; 
next,  he  applied  for  and  secured  a  grant  of  land,  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  above  the  rapids — a  site  suggested 
thirty  years  previously  by  Champlain  for  a  trading  post. 
This  was  about  1667.  He  formed  a  small  colony,  built 
a  stockade,  and  began  the  Hfe  of  a  grand  seigneur. 
Some  Senecas  visited  him  for  barter  and  the  tales  they 
spun  about  a  great  river,  faring  south-west,  that  could 
be  followed  for  eight  months  to  the  sea,  filled  La  Salle's 
mind  with  a  craze  for  exploration  and  wealth.  As 
Justin  Winsor  cleverly  comments,  the  Seneca's  story 
"  is  comprehensible  to-day  by  combining  in  one  the 
courses  of  the  Alleghany,  the  Ohio,  and  the  ^Mississippi ; 
but  to  La  Salle's  imagination,  it  was  a  vision  of  tlie 
great  waterway  that  had  been  sought  since  the  time  of 
Cartier."     He  cast  religion  to  the  winds! 


48  The    Mississippi 

Mad  with  passion  for  fame  and  wealth,  La  Salle, 
who  had  tied  up  his  money  in  his  stockaded  post  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  hurried  to  Quebec  in  hope  of  rais- 
ing funds.  The  Governor,  Courcelles,  gave  him  letters 
patent  of  the  broadest  scope  but  nothing  in  money.  He 
returned  to  Montreal  and  organised  a  syndicate.  Chief 
among  these  associates  was  the  Sieur  de  la  Roussiliere. 
La  Salle  seemed  undecided  in  which  direction  to  travel 
but  a  Sulpitian  priest,  Dollier  de  Casson,  threw  the 
deciding  die.  During  the  previous  winter,  passed  in 
the  Nipissing  country,  he  had  picked  up  a  renegade 
French  trooper  who  had  claimed  to  have  voyaged  far 
beyond  the  Great  Lakes,  and  had  inspired  the  local 
head  of  the  Sulpitians  with  the  dream  of  pushing  his 
missions  farther  into  the  wilderness.  The  chief  of  the 
Jesuits  in  Canada,  Laval,  happened  to  visit  Montreal 
(May  15,  1669)  and  readily  gave  to  Father  Dollier  a 
letter  commanding  the  aid  of  all  Jesuits,  wherever  met. 
Laval  suggested  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  as  a 
future  field. 

La  Salle  converted  his  seigneury  near  Montreal  into 
cash  and  on  July  6,  1669,  with  twenty  men  in  seven 
canoes,  headed  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  Galinee,  one  of 
the  party,  left  a  journal  of  this  trip,  the  manuscript 
of  which  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  at  Paris. 
The  expedition  entered  Lake  Ontario  and  made  a  land- 
ing at  Irondequoit  Bay,  August  26th;  but  when  La 
Salle,  Galinee,  and  others  reached  the  Jesuit  mission, 
the  priests  of  that  order  had  gone  away  to  Onondaga 
(in  what  is  now  central  New  York)  to  attend  a  council. 
In  disappointment.  La  Salle  returned  to  the  lake  and 
passed  the  outlet  of  the  Niagara  River,  without  seeing 
the  falls,  although  Galinee  says  their  roar  was  heard. 


The  French  Explorations  49 

Champlain  had  previously  visited  and  described  Niagara 
(1603).' 

At  the  western  end  of  Lake  Ontario,  Louis  Joliet 
and  Pere,  returning  from  the  copper  prospecting  tour 
previously  mentioned,  Mere  met.  La  Salle  and  Joliet, 
nearly  of  an  age  and  equally  adventurous,  struck  up  a 
friendship  at  once.  Here,  the  two  priests,  D oilier  and 
Galinee,  broke  away.  La  Salle  was  suffering  from  ill- 
ness, caused,  according  to  the  sarcastic  Galinee,  "  by  a 
sudden  encounter  with  rattlesnakes,"  although  he  was 
not  bitten.  It  was  really  a  split  between  the  two  mis- 
sionaries and  the  men  actuated  only  by  commercial  im- 
pulses. The  two  Sulpitians  portaged  to  Lake  Erie  and 
upon  its  shore  went  into  winter  quarters.  In  the  spring, 
after  many  mishaps,  Dollier  and  his  companion  pro- 
ceeded up  the  Detroit  River  and  reached  the  mission 
at  the  Sault  in  IMay,  1670.  Here,  they  found  Fathers 
]Marquette  and  Dablon.  Laval's  letter  was  not  favour- 
ably received  there  and  the  two  wandering  priests 
returned  to  JNIontreal  by  the  Ottawa  route. 

From  the  moment  he  parted  with  Fathers  Dollier 
and  Galinee,  La  Salle's  movements  become  vague.  He 
was  in  eclipse  for  two  years.  Perhaps  his  reputation 
unjusth^  suffers  from  the  absence  of  a  chronicler,  like 
Galinee.  Many  of  his  men  deserted  and  returned  to 
Montreal.  Where  La  Salle  passed  the  two  years  that 
intervened  before  his  reappearance  at  Montreal  is  liter- 
ally unknown!     Margry,  of  Paris,  courageously  pub- 


1  DES  SAVVAGES,  OV  VOYAGE  DE  SAMVEL  CHAMPLAIN, 
DE  BROVAGE,  a  fait  en  la  France  nouuelle,  I'an  mil  six  cents 
trois.  A  Paris,  Chez  CLAVDE  DE  MONSTR'OEILL,  1603.  (Only 
four  copies  known.  One,  owned  by  Mr.  Mitchell  Kennerley,  recently 
sold  at  auction  in  New  York  for  $2900.— J.  C.) 


50  The    Mississippi 

lished  a  curious  series  of  "  Conversations "  with  La 
Salle,  said  to  have  occurred  in  Paris  in  1678,  wherein 
a  claim  is  set  up  to  the  discovery  of  the  Ohio  River  in 
1670;  and  that  he  voyaged  thereon  as  far  as  the  JNIis- 
sissippi.  Margry  also  asserts  that,  in  1671,  La  Salle 
"  went  by  Lake  ^Michigan  to  the  Chicago  portage  and, 
by  descending  the  Illinois  River,  again  entered  the 
Mississippi."  This  would  appear  to  have  been  spoken  or 
written  by  a  man  who  was  deficient  in  knowledge  of 
geography.  Claims  to  tw^o  visits  cannot  be  substan- 
tiated. No  information  regarding  the  return  routes 
eastward  in  either  the  first  or  the  second  alleged  trip 
is  presented.  Gravier  was  a  warm  defender  of  La 
Salle.  Parkman  believed  the  Frenchman  descended  the 
Ohio  as  far  as  the  falls  and  that  his  men  deserted  him 
there,  instead  of  at  the  Mississippi,  as  stated  by  Margry. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Ohio  rapids  at  Louisville  are 
readily  run  in  canoes — the  fall  being  only  twenty-seven 
feet  in  two  and  a  half  miles.  Upon  the  slender  thread 
of  an  anonymous  publication,  impossible  of  verification, 
rests  La  Salle's  claim  to  have  visited  the  upper 
Mississippi  ahead  of  Marquette. 

The  determination  and  energy  of  the  man  from 
Rouen  was  such  that  he  made  two  subsequent  efforts 
to  reach  the  great  river,  the  second  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  In  this  last  voyage  he  was  accompanied  by 
his  brother,  the  Sulpitian  priest,  John  Cavelier,  whose 
chronicle,  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  wholly  authenticated. 

V — JOLIET  AND  MARQUETTE 

Prior  to  the  finding  of  the  Radisson  manuscripts 
at  Oxford,  the  claim  of  Joliet  and  JSIarquette  to  a  first 


The  French  Explorations  51 

sight  of  the  upper  Mississippi  was  uncontested,  except 
by  the  upholders  of  the  La  Salle  contentions.  There 
had  been  arguments  that  Deguerre  (1652),  Drocoux 
(1657),  Allouez  (1668),  Pinet  (1670),  and  Augustine 
INIeulan  de  Circe  (1670)  had  visited  the  Mississippi  by 
the  Illinois  River  route  in  the  years  mentioned.  The 
late  Dr.  Shea  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  to  clear- 
ing up  Marquette's  record,  and  ultimately  established 
the  credibility  of  the  missionary's  narrative.  In  the 
statuary  room  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington  stands  a 
marble  effigy  of  the  good  priest  who  first  explored  the 
river  that  gives  name  to  the  State  of  Wisconsin :  it  was 
erected  by  the  citizens  of  that  State. 

In  far  away  Paris,  Colbert  never  lost  sight  of  the 
vast  possessions  that  lay  beyond  and  south  of  the  Great 
Lakes  of  North  America.  His  ambitions,  if  we  are 
to  believe  Charlevoix,  exceeded  his  knowledge.  Ap- 
parently, the  English  had  not  detected  his  intention 
to  seize  all  North  American  territory  as  far  as  the  Gulf 
of  California,  into  which  he  believed,  as  did  nearly 
everybody,  that  the  widely  heralded  Mississippi  emptied. 

The  Comte  de  Frontenac  was  Governor  at  Quebec. 
Although  a  staunch  Catholic,  he  hated  the  Jesuits.^  On 
impulse,  he  is  alleged  to  have  stopped  the  publication 
of  their  "  Relations,"  a  misfortune  of  the  most  lamen- 
table character.  Frontenac  hoped  to  divert  attention 
from  his  own  unpopularity  in  New  France  by  sending 
men  to  carry  out  Colbert's  ambitious  dreams.  Joliet 
had  already  been  selected  and  he  was  responsible  for 
the  choice  of  Father  Marquette,  a  member  of  the  order 

1^  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi,  John  Gilmer  Shea;  Redfield,  New 
York,  1852.  Also,  Collections  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society, 
vol.  iii. 


52  The  Mississippi 

that  Frontenac  feared  and  disliked.  JoHet  was  a  Cana- 
dian, son  of  a  waggon-smith;  but  the  only  man  who 
objected  to  the  appointment  was  silenced  by  a  reminder 
that  Paul  of  Tarsus  was  a  tent-maker.  Joliet  had  had 
experience  in  the  wilderness,  as  we  know.  I.a  Salle, 
who  understood  him,  was  absent  on  his  vaguely-defined 
visit  to  Ohio  and  Lake  INIichigan,  and,  unfortunately, 
did  not  return  until  a  month  after  Joliet's  departure 
in  August,  1672.  Joliet  wintered  at  INIackinaw,  where 
he  cultivated  the  acquaintance  of  JNIarquette,  who  had 
been  at  the  head  of  the  Jesuit  mission  there  for  two 
years.  His  experience  among  the  natives  exceeded  that 
of  Joliet,  and  the  latter  fixed  upon  him  as  a  valued 
coadjutor.  Whether  or  not  Father  ^larquette  secured 
the  consent  of  Monseigneur  Laval  to  accompany  Fron- 
tenae's  agent,  Joliet,  may  never  be  known,  but  he 
decided  to  go. 

Joliet  was  chief  of  the  expedition;  but  Marquette 
kept  "  the  log,"  which  accounts  for  the  minor  figure 
that  the  former  cuts  in  the  narrative  of  this  memorable 
voyage.  An  opportunity  presents  itself  to  the  writer 
at  this  point  to  display  vast  erudition  regarding  the 
peaceful  conquest  that  the  Governor  of  New  France 
was  planning,  but  he  puts  it  aside.  A  publishers'  war 
of  the  keenest  sort  between  map-makers  had  broken 
out  in  Europe.  Sanson,  the  boldest  guesser  among 
them,  had  issued  a  chart  of  the  Great  Lake  region  in 
1669,  in  which  he  made  Lake  Michigan  larger  than 
Superior. 

Father  Marquette's  "  Narrative,"  as  printed  by 
Margry,  of  Paris,  takes  two  forms.  The  text  was 
originally  sent  from  the  wilderness  to  Father  Dablon, 
at  Quebec,  and  bv  him  embodied  in  his  "  Relation," 


The  French  Explorations  53 

which  was  forwarded  to  Paris.  The  original  was 
retained  at  Qiiehec ;  when  the  two  versions  were  printed, 
some  discrepancies  were  pointed  out.  They  are  not 
serious  and  do  not  affect  the  credihihty  of  the  docu- 
ments. Dr.  John  G.  Shea  first  pubhshed  Marquette's 
journal  in  English. 

The  party  started  from  Mackinaw  in  two  large 
canoes,  seven  men  in  all,  on  May  17,  1673,  going  by 
the  route  to  Green  Bay  that  Jean  Nicolet  had  followed 
thirty-eight  years  before.  Thence,  they  ascended  the 
Fox  River,  as  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  had  done,  and 
made  the  mile  and  three  quarters  portage  into  the  Wis- 
consin River, — although  Marquette  does  not  appear  to 
have  known  its  name.  The  narrative  of  that  trip  to 
the  Mississippi  is  so  full  of  details  that  doubt  of  its 
occurrence  is  removed.  Every  bend  in  the  Wisconsin 
and  many  of  its  natural  features  are  mentioned. 

The  two  canoes  emerged  from  a  sheltering  head- 
land upon  the  broad,  swift  current  of  the  Mississippi 
on  June  17,  1673, — just  one  month  after  starting. 
Marquette  says  he  "  found  nineteen  fathoms  of  water  " 
(one  hundred  and  fourteen  feet!),  an  error  due  to  en- 
thusiasm, doubtless.  Remembering  Father  Allouez's 
reports  upon  his  return,  he  recorded  the  river's  name 
as  "  Missipi."  The  priest  gives  the  latitude  as  421/0° 
N".,  approximately  correct.  Prairie  du  Chien,  which  is 
to-day  near  the  mouth  of  that  river,  is  in  north  latitude 
43°  3',  and  the  distance  from  the  portage  to  that  point 
is  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles.^ 

JMarquette's  party  then  descended  the  great  river 
and  at  a  point  below  40°    (or  about  sixty  leagues) 

1  Marquette's  Map  on  page  248,  Justin  Winsor's  book.     Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co. 


54  The  Mississippi 

they  discovered  a  foot-path  "  leading  into  a  beautiful 
prairie."  (Marquette  doesn't  say  upon  which  bank, 
although  it  becomes  apparent  later  in  the  narrative.) 
He  and  Joliet  undertook  to  follow  the  trail  alone. 
Thej^  discovered  an  Indian  village  at  the  end  of  two 
leagues  (about  five  and  a  half  miles) .  Near-by  on  a 
river,  were  two  other  villages.  The  smaller  stream  upon 
which  these  teepees  stood  would  appear  to  have  been 
the  Des  Moines,  which  fixes  the  field  of  exploration  in 
what  is  now  Iowa.  Priest  and  trader  were  hospitably 
received;  they  smoked  the  calumet  and  many  speeches 
were  exchanged.  Marquette  causes  the  Illinois,  who 
were  away  from  their  home  upon  a  hunting  excursion, 
to  talk  like  the  Mohicans  in  Fenimore  Cooper's  novels. 
The  sachem  gave  to  the  visitors  a  dog-feast. 

The  stay  with  the  Illinois  was  brief,  and  toward  the 
end  of  June,  priest  and  pelfer  resumed  their  journey 
with  the  current,  noticing  mulberry  and  persimmon 
trees.  They  passed  cliffs  upon  which  were  painted 
the  images  of  two  monsters:  these  palisades  are  known 
to  this  day  as  "  the  Painted  Rocks,"  although  the  designs 
that  gave  to  them  name  have  long  vanished. 

The  entrance  of  the  muddy,  or  coffee-hued,  Missouri 
is  graphically  described  by  Marquette,  who,  being 
physicist  as  well  as  priest,  reasoned  that  the  JNIississippi 
was  driven  as  nearly  south  as  possible  by  the  impetu- 
osity of  its  added  tributary  from  the  north-west  and 
that  its  mouth  was  on  the  Gulf  of  ^lexico  instead  of 
the  Vermilion  Sea.  He  so  declared,  without  reservation, 
and  his  opinion,  formed  by  deduction,  is  almost  as  great 
a  mental  triumph  as  was  subsequent  physical  proof, 
supplied  by  Tonty  and  the  Ursuline  Sisterhood.  As 
every  visitor  to  Saint  Louis  will  recall,  the  waters  of 


The  French  Explorations  55 

the  two  streams  have  not  mixed,  even  at  that  point. 
JMarquette  rightly  conjectured  that  it  would  he  possihle 
to  ascend  the  Missouri  and  its  tributaries  and  find  a 
portage  into  some  great  river  that  delivered  its  waters 
into  the  Gulf  of  California.  It  was  a  good  guess;  the 
headwaters  of  the  Platte  almost  interlock  with  the 
Colorado. 

The  site  of  Saint  Louis  was  a  dense  forest.  The 
next  great  affluent  entered  from  the  east,  twenty  leagues 
below  the  INIissouri.  It  was  the  Ohio,  known  to  the 
natives  as  the  Ouabache  (Wabash).  Joliet,  or  his 
chronicler,  does  not  record  any  traces  of  La  Salle's  pre- 
vious visit  to  that  place.  They  then  "  entered  the  mos- 
quito country"  as  called  in  Chippewa-land  to-day.  Soon 
after,  they  saw  natives  with  fire-arms,  the  Chicachas, 
who,  after  parleying,  received  the  travellers.  As  other 
voyagers  had  been  told,  Marquette  was  assured  that  not 
more  than  ten  days'  journey  separated  them  from  the 
sea.  Everywhere,  the  natives  were  friendly, — indeed 
they  continued  to  be  until  the  white  man  treated  them 
with  injustice.  The  voyageurs  redoubled  their  pad- 
dling and  arrived  at  Akamsea,  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  River,  which  ^larquette  locates  33°  40'  N. 
latitude, — probably  not  far  from  the  Indian  village  of 
Guachoya,  where  Plernando  de  Soto  had  breathed  his 
last,  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  before.  It  will  be 
recalled  that  the  Spaniards  under  Moscoso,  Soto's  suc- 
cessor, attained  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  from  this 
point  after  sixteen  days.  This  would  appear  to  prove 
that  Soto  died  near  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  instead 
of  that  of  the  Red  River. 

Here,  again,  Marquette  was  told  that  the  sea  was 
*'  only  ten  days  distant."     Stories  they  heard  about  the 


56  The  Mississippi 

warlike  character  of  the  trihes  between  Akamsea  and  the 
Gulf  and  distrust  of  the  Spaniards,  into  whose  clutches 
they  must  fall,  caused  priest  and  trader  to  agree  that 
the  voyage  had  lasted  long  enough.  A  desire  to  send 
his  report  of  the  trip  to  Quebec  greatly  influenced 
jMarquette;  the  Spaniards  might  seize  the  records  and 
prevent  their  use. 

The  return  voyage  was  begun,  therefore,  on  July 
17,  1673.  It  may  be  disposed  of  in  a  few  sentences. 
Marquette  turned  into  the  Illinois  and  passed  by  the 
familiar  route  (of  the  present  Chicago  drainage  canal) 
to  Lake  Michigan.  He  was  detained  at  the  mission 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  in  Green  Bay,  during  the  en- 
tire summer  of  1674.  In  November  of  that  year,  he 
set  out  for  the  Illinois  country  but  an  illness,  from 
which  he  had  thought  himself  cured,  returned,  and  "  he 
died  gloriously  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  years."  His 
last  words  were,  "  I  believe  that  my  Redeemer  liveth." 
The  description  of  his  last  hours,  near  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Chicago,  by  Father  Dablon,  is  worthy 
of  any  literature.  Years  later,  some  Kiskakon  Indians, 
dwelling  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  removed  the  body  of 
Father  Marquette  to  the  shrine  he  had  established  at 
Mackinaw, — the  church  of  St.  Ignatius. 

Joliet  was  welcomed  on  his  arrival  at  the  Sault 
Ste.  Marie.  As  he  had  been  very  ill,  he  wintered  there 
and  went  forward  to  Quebec  in  the  summer.  Joliet 
lost  all  his  records  in  the  Lachine  Rapids,  where  two 
of  his  men  were  drowned. 

VI LA  SALLE  TRIES  AGAIN 

The  reports  that  Joliet  brought   home  threw   La 


The  French  Explorations  57 

Salle  into  a  white  heat.  He  accepted  oNIarquette's  rea- 
soning and  Joliet's  statements,  based  on  talk  with  na- 
tives at  the  Arkansas  River,  that  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
received  the  floods  of  the  JNIississippi.  He  hurried  to 
France  and  obtained  a  commission. 

In  the  fall  of  1675,  Louis  Hennepin,  a  Recollect 
friar,  arrived  at  Quebec  from  France.  He  was  wel- 
comed by  Frontenac  with  joy  as  offering  a  foil  for 
the  Jesuit  dominance  under  which  the  Governor  chafed. 
La  Salle  came  on  the  same  ship  with  Hennepin.  Also 
on  board  was  Duchesneau,  the  new  Intendant,  to  re- 
place Talon,  sent  as  a  sp}^  upon  Frontenac. 

La  Salle  went  to  Fort  Frontenac,  at  the  western 
end  of  Lake  Ontario,  under  the  terms  of  his  grant  and 
sj)ent  thirty-five  thousand  livres  in  strengthening  its 
walls.  Hennepin  set  up  a  mission  among  the  Iroquois 
near  that  fort.  La  Salle  cherished  dreams  of  curbing 
the  British  advances  to  the  south.  His  probable  plan 
was  to  open  trade  with  the  Mississippi,  through  the 
Alleghany  and  Ohio  rivers,  but  hostility  of  the  natives 
defeated  it.  La  Salle  suddenly  departed  for  Quebec  and 
in  November,  1677,  sailed  for  France.  There,  he  floated 
on  the  high  tide  of  success;  he  secured  confirmation  of 
his  seigneural  rights  at  Fort  Frontenac  and  convinced 
his  sovereign  that  the  valuable  peltry  regions  of  the 
West  could  be  more  easily  reached  from  the  new  base 
that  he  had  created. 

JNIoney  poured  into  his  hands;  but  the  greatest 
treasure  he  secured  in  Paris  was  Henry  Tonty,  an 
Italian  soldier  of  fortune,  who,  in  good  or  evil  report, 
for  ever  after  remained  staunch  in  his  fidelity  to  and 
respect  for  La  Salle.  To  this  day,  the  one-armed 
ToTity  is  the  hero  of  the  JNIississippi. 


58  The  Mississippi 

Accompanied  by  Tonty,  La  Salle  set  sail  from  La 
Rochelle  in  August,  1678,  with  fittings  for  a  vessel 
that  was  to  be  built  on  Lake  Erie.  At  Quebec,  after 
a  conference  with  Frontenac,  La  Salle  decided  to  send 
Cadillac  and  Hennepin  ahead  to  the  Illinois  country 
to  establish  food  stations  and  arrange  for  trading  posts 
before  his  coming  the  following  spring.  Cadillac 
stopped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara  River,  where  he 
was  well  received  by  the  Senecas,  who  "  burned  an  In- 
dian prisoner  for  his  entertainment."  La  Salle  and 
Tonty  joined  Cadillac  and  together  they  selected  the 
mouth  of  Cayuga  Creek,  on  Niagara  River  opposite 
the  Grand  Island,  as  the  place  to  lay  the  keel  of  a 
fifty-ton  (Tonty  says  forty-ton)  vessel  in  which  to  navi- 
gate the  northern  lakes.  Leaving  Tonty  with  a  score 
of  ship-carpenters,  La  Salle  went  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Niagara  River,  built  a  blockhouse  named  Fort  Conti, 
and  then  to  Fort  Frontenac. 

In  May,  the  Griffon  was  launched,  and  for  safety 
from  the  Senecas  w^as  anchored  offshore.  She  car- 
ried five  small  guns.^  Tonty,  with  a  small  party,  w^ent 
ahead  by  Lake  Erie  to  the  Strait  (Detroit)  where  he 
arrived  August  10th.  The  bark.  Griffon,  started  for 
Detroit  late  in  July  and  after  much  difficulty  in  get- 
ting out  the  Niagara  River  into  the  lake,  overtook  the 
Tonty  party  at  the  entrance  to  the  "  strait."  All  were 
taken  aboard.  Without  mishap,  they  sailed  to  Lake 
Huron  and  anchored  at  Mackinaw  on  September  17, 
1679.     A  start  was  made  for  the  river  of  the  ^Miamis 


1  From  this  point  we  follow  the  "  Relation  of  Henry  de  Tonty, 
written  from  Quebec,  Nov.  14,  1684,  and  addressed  to  Abbe  Renau- 
dot,  who  was  his  patron  near  the  Prince  de  Conti  and  who  introduced 
Tonty  to  M.  de  La  Salle." — Margry. 


The  French  Explorations  59 

(St.  Joseph  River)  on  October  5th,  and  coasting  Lake 
JNIichigan  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  they  landed 
at  their  destination  November  12th.  There,  La  Salle 
was  found  building  a  fort.  An  attempt  to  murder  La 
Salle  was  made  by  one  of  the  twenty-nine  French- 
men during  the  portage  to  the  Illinois  River.  The 
mental  grief  he  must  have  suffered  when  he  became 
conscious  that  poison  had  been  given  to  him  by  dis- 
loyal companions,  who  hoped  by  his  death  to  avoid  the 
dangerous  trip  ahead  of  them,  must  have  been  infinitely 
greater  than  any  physical  agony  he  endured.  His 
despair  w^as  indicated  by  the  name  he  gave  to  the 
stockade  he  built,  soon  after,  at  the  Illinois  portage, 
Creve  Coeur,—\he  fort  of  the  "Broken  Heart."  On 
December  15th,  a  conspiracy  among  the  men  to  take 
the  boats  and  desert  was  discovered  and  frustrated. 
Tonty  describes  the  descent  of  the  Illinois  in  admirable 
manner.  An  Illinois  village  was  seen  on  January  4, 
1680;  and  although  the  weather  was  very  cold,  the  In- 
dians were  naked.  AVhile  visiting  with  these  natives, 
poison  w^as  found  in  La  Salle's  porridge  and  six  of  his 
men,  probably  implicated  in  the  plot,  deserted.  The 
building  of  a  forty-ton  vessel  was  undertaken  for  the 
descent  of  the  Mississippi. 

INIeanwhile,  Father  Louis  Hennepin  was  sent  north- 
w^ard  into  the  land  of  the  Sioux.  For  some  unaccount- 
able reason,  La  Salle  declared  his  intention  to  return 
by  land  to  Fort  Frontenac,  on  Lake  Ontario,  "  a 
journey  of  four  hundred  leagues."  He  departed  on 
March  10th.  Tonty,  with  a  few  men,  remained  through 
the  summer  and  fall  of  that  year,  and  his  description 
of  an  attack  from  the  Iroquois  is  a  graphic  picture  of 
Indian  warfare.    After  wandering  about  all  that  winter. 


6o  The  Mississippi 

the  retreat  to  Green  Bay  was  accomphshed  and  Macki- 
naw saw  the  sorely  famished  party  on  Corpus  Christi 
day,  1681.  La  Salle  arrived  next  day:  his  purpose  to 
return  to  the  ^lississippi  quest  was  inflexible.  His 
account  of  his  long  tramp  across  what  is  now  Illinois, 
Indiana,  and  Ohio  to  Lake  Erie  was  listened  to  with 
much  interest. 

Back  went  Tonty,  under  La  Salle's  orders,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River,  arriving  November  10th, 
and  on  December  19th,  La  Salle  joined  him.  Finding 
the  river  full  of  ice,  the  party  coasted  the  lake  (Michi- 
gan) "  to  a  certain  little  river  called  Chicago,"  from 
which  stream  they  portaged  a  league  and  a  half  into 
another  creek  that  emptied  into  the  Illinois.  Sleds 
were  used  to  transport  the  packs.  At  this  point,  Tonty 
gives  a  complete  roster  of  the  twenty-three  Frenchmen 
and  eighteen  "  savages."  After  dragging  their  outfit 
for  seventy  leagues,  open  water  was  found,  more  canoes 
were  constructed,  and  the  descent  to  the  Mississippi  ac- 
complished on  Februaiy  6,  1682.  This  was  Tonty's 
first  sight  of  the  great  river,  which  La  Salle  named 
"  Colbert,"  after  his  patron. 

Tonty  describes  the  camp  life  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois,  with  its  hardships  and  diversions.  He  men- 
tions the  catch  of  a  catfish  so  large  that  it  "  supplied 
ample  food  for  twenty-two  men."  This  recalls  the  later 
Southern  negro  story  of  the  same  sort  of  fish  that  was 
*'  six  feet  between  the  eyes, — go  as  you  please  on  its 
length." 

Tonty's  account  of  the  descent  of  the  Mississippi 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  is  rather  more  graphic 
than  is  Marquette's,  abounding  in  incidents  such  as 
Pierre  Proud'homme,  the  gun-smith  of  the  expedition. 


The  French  Explorations  6i 

getting  lost  in  the  woods;  the  finding  of  large  quanti- 
ties of  bean-bearing  vines  clinging  to  trees;  the  cere- 
monial of  the  calumet,  and  the  forming  of  an  intrenched 
camp  that  would  have  delighted  Violet  le  Due,  or 
Vauban.  La  Salle  "  took  possession  of  the  land  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  in  the  name  of  his  JNIost 
Christian  Majesty,  and  set  up  the  king's  arms." 

During  the  trip  down-stream  to  the  Taensas,  "beaver 
and  otter  were  not  found,  owing  to  the  presence  of 
crocodiles  "  (alligators) .  Buffalo  were  seen  all  the  way 
to  the  sea!  The  western  bank  was  followed  until  INIarch 
22  (1682),  when  Tonty  visited  a  remarkable  native 
village,  having  houses  of  clay,  with  dome-shaped  roofs 
that  were  rain-proof.  The  chief  received  him  seated 
upon  a  couch  instead  of  upon  the  ground.  More  than 
sixty  elderly  warriors,  habited  in  long  white  shrouds, 
stood  around.  A  torch  of  dry  canes  burned  in  this 
audience  chamber  and,  strangest  of  all,  the  four  walls 
were  decorated  with  paintings  and  hung  with  yellowish 
copper  shields.  An  alcove  was  the  chief's  sleeping 
quarters.  Camp  cots  were  used  for  the  occupancy  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  eight  villages  that  were  his  depen- 
dencies. (These  are  the  descriptions  appropriated  by 
M.  Chateaubriand.)  With  their  hands  raised  to  their 
heads,  these  old  men  shouted,  like  coyotes,  "Ho,  ho! 
Ho,  ho!"  (This  is  the  Chippewa  form  of  greeting 
to  this  day  in  the  Itasca  country.  "Ho!"  uttered 
singly,  means  "Thank  you";  but  repeated  several, 
times  it  is  a  friendly  welcome.)  In  very  many  ways, 
the  Taensas  showed  the  effects  of  a  foreign  civilisation. 
Among  other  evidences,  Tonty  mentions  the  fact  that 
food  was  served  to  each  guest  in  a  separate  glazed 
earthenware  bowl ;  that  nobody  passed  between  the  torch 


62  The  Mississippi 

and  the  chief,  and  that  the  cooking  showed  signs  of 
the  cuhnary  art.  The  chief  had  pendants  containing  six- 
teen large  pearls  hanging  from  his  ears.  He  told 
Tonty  they  were  taken  from  shells,  plenty  in  the  river. 
When  Tonty  returned  to  La  Salle's  camp  after  his 
visit  to  the  Taensa  chief,  the  commandant  insisted  that 
he  go  back  after  the  pearls.  He  did  so  and  received 
them  in  exchange  for  a  cheap  bracelet.  They  were  as 
large  as  peas  and  La  Salle  took  them.  The  Taensas 
had  a  temple  facing  the  chief's  cabin,  containing  an 
altar.  Upon  the  top  of  the  lodge  were  three  eagles 
looking  toward  the  morning  sun,  and  upon  its  exterior 
w'alls  were  exposed  heads  of  enemies  slain  in  battle. 
A  redoubt  with  watch-towers  of  hard  wood  enclosed 
this  house  of  worship.  Guards  watched  day  and  night. 
Ten  leagues'  farther  progress  toward  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  was  made  on  JNIarch  25,  1682.  Next 
day,  going  southward,  a  log  canoe  (pirogue)  was  seen 
crossing  the  broad  river.  Savages  appeared  on  both 
banks.  La  Salle  reluctantly  sent  Tonty  with  the  peace 
pipe.  When  he  landed,  the  natives  received  him  seated, 
which  was  a  sign  of  peace,  and  then  cheerfully  smoked 
the  calumet.  A  knife  was  given  to  the  chief,  "  which 
he  hastily  hid  in  his  robe  as  if  guilty  of  a  theft."  The 
chief  clasped  his  own  hands  to  signify  his  friendship. 
Tonty  says  he  imitated  the  native's  action  {"  je  le 
contrefis").  Some  commentators  have  smiled  at  this 
statement,  because  Tonty  only  had  one  arm.  It  is 
known,  however,  that  he  had  a  bronze  hand  which  he 
might  have  clasped  with  his  real  one.  Two  warriors 
were  despatched  to  La  Salle,  across  the  river,  Tonty 
remaining  as  hostage.  After  a  conference,  they  re- 
turned with  all  the  Frenchmen  of  the  party,  including 


The  French  Explorations  63 

La  Salle.  The  commandant  accepted  an  invitation  to 
go  to  the  neighhouring  village  of  the  trihe,  called  Xahy 
(Natchez,  according  to  Parkman)  and  passed  the  night 
there.  The  Taensas  practised  slavery:  Tonty  speaks 
of  bujang  a  boy  slave  and  his  mother  from  them. 

Next  day,  La  Salle's  party,  accompanied  by  many 
friendly  natives,  went  ten  leagues  down-stream  to  a 
village  of  the  Cordoas.  On  Easter  Day,  another  start 
was  made  for  the  sea,  said  to  be  ten  days  distant.  At 
the  end  of  eighty  leagues  (two  hundred  and  twenty 
miles),  Indians  were  descried  on  the  western  bank  and 
the  war  drums  were  heard.  The  French  disembarked 
at  the  mouth  of  a  small  creek  and  Tonty  constructed 
a  fortified  angle  as  a  defence  against  arrows.  Four 
men  sent  to  reconnoitre  were  attacked  with  a  shower 
of  arrows.  The  French  party,  with  native  followers, 
re-embarked  and  proceeded  two  leagues  (five  and  one 
half  miles)  to  a  village  on  the  eastern  bank,  the  name 
of  which  proved  to  be  Tangibaho.  The  village  .was 
depopulated  and  evidences  of  a  recent  battle  were  on 
every  side.  This  is  what  Tonty  says :  "  We  found 
only  corpses.  The  people  had  been  defeated  by  Chou- 
choumas.  Blood  was  ankle  deep!  Five  great  lodges 
M^ere  filled  with  dead  bodies.  The  rest  of  the  village 
had  been  destroyed  bj^  fire.  This  place  was  distant 
thirty  leagues  (sixty-seven  and  one  half  miles)  from 
the  sea." 

Following  our  river  route,  the  voyageurs  came  in 
sight  of  the  sea  on  April  6  (1682).  "As  the  river 
here  divides  into  three  channels,"  writes  Tonty  (thus 
conclusively  proving  that  the  three-pronged  mouth  of 
the  "Admiral's  map"  belonged  to  the  Mississippi), 
"  M.  de  La  Salle  undertook  the  exploration  of  the  one 


64  The  Mississippi 

to  the  right  [the  South-west  pass  of  to-day],  I  took  the 
central  one,  and  the  Sieur  d'  Autray  (Jacques  Bour- 
don) that  to  the  left.  We  found  all  of  them  excellent, 
broad,  and  deep.  When  we  had  reassembled  on  the 
9th,  :M.  de  La  Salle  set  up  the  arms  of  the  King  of 
France  and  a  cross.  A  Te  Deum  was  sung.  After 
firing  three  salutes,  and  burying  a  lead  tablet  engraved 
with  His  INIajesty's  arms,  M.  de  La  Salle  took  posses- 
sion of  the  river  in  the  name  of  the  most  exalted  and 
glorious  prince  Louis  the  Great,  King  of  France  and 
of  Navarre." 

The  return  voyage  began  on  April  10th,  and  was 
enlivened  by  several  pitched  battles  with  the  natives. 
The  most  serious  affair  occurred  over  a  slave  woman 
who  had  been  presented  to  La  Salle  by  the  Arkansans 
on  the  downward  voyage  but  belonged  to  the  Quini- 
passas,  near  the  mouth  of  the  JMississippi.  She  was 
recognised  and  a  night  attack  by  her  people  was  made 
on  La  Salle's  camp.  Considerable  bloodshed  resulted 
but  the  slave  was  not  surrendered.  The  French  were 
again  well  received  by  the  Cordoas,  but  messengers 
from  the  Quinipassas  ^  had  preceded  them :  treachery 
was  only  prevented  by  La  Salle's  undaunted  courage. 
Escape  was  made  up-stream  to  the  Taensas  where  sev- 
eral very  happy  days  were  passed.  A  neighbouring 
chief  sent  two  bands  of  music  (!),  to  the  cadence  of 
which  the  paddlers  worked.  The  reception  ceremony 
concluded  with  a  prayer  to  the  sun.     JNIay  3d  saw  them 

1  Any  philological  defence  of  the  orthography  of  many  of  the 
obscure  Indian  names  is  impossible.  The  spelling  differs  in  nearly 
all  the  Jesuit  manuscripts, — in  several  instances,  varying  in  the  work 
of  the  same  relator.  Along  the  lower  Mississippi,  many  Spanish 
names  were  retained  by  the  French;  along  the  upper  river,  French 
spelling  has  been  followed.     But,  as  stated,  that  is  not  uniform. — J.  C. 


The  French  Explorations  65 

under  way  again.  Desiring  to  hasten  northward,  La 
Salle  preceded  Tonty,  but  a  few  days  later  at  a  land- 
ing, a  letter  written  by  Jacques  Cochois  was  seen  fast- 
ened to  a  tree  announcing  La  Salle's  dangerous  illness 
and  summoning  the  surgeon  of  the  expedition,  Jean 
^lichel.  Tonty  started  immediately.  La  Salle  was 
found  at  Fort  Proud'homme, — named  for  the  place  at 
which  the  gun-smith  had  gone  astray  in  the  woods  on 
the  downward  voyage, — dangerously  ill.  After  remain- 
ing until  June  4th,  La  Salle  being  no  better,  Tonty 
was  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  river  of  the  Miamis  taking 
three  Frenchmen  and  one  Indian.  He  parted  with  La 
Salle,  as  he  supposed,  for  ever.  Just  north  of  the 
Ohio,  the  little  party  had  a  narrow  escape  from  mas- 
sacre at  a  village  of  mixed  tribes.  A  friendly  native 
discovered  the  plot,  and  on  June  27th  Tonty  arrived 
safely  among  the  Illinois.  The  water  in  the  Wisconsin 
being  low,  the  party  went  afoot  to  Winnebago  Lake, 
where  Tonty  bought  a  boat  and  returned  by  the  usual 
Green  Bay  route  to  Mackinaw  (July  22, 1682) .  There, 
he  received  word  of  M.  de  La  Salle's  recovery,  after 
forty  days'  sickness.  The  commandant  arrived  in  per- 
son during  the  summer.  He  was  anxious  to  go  to 
France  to  report  to  the  King  (Louis  XIV.)  but  being 
too  weak  from  his  illness,  sent  his  despatches  by  Father 
Zenoble,  who  had  accompanied  him  throughout  the  long 
voyage  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Tonty  was  sent  by  La 
Salle  to  build  a  fort  for  the  protection  of  the  Shawanoes, 
his  devoted  alhes.  La  Salle  joined  Tonty  on  December 
30th  and  during  that  winter  "  Fort  Saint  Louis  was 
built  upon  an  impregnable  rock."  Peace  was  made 
between  all  the  Illinois  tribes  except  the  Iroquois. 

Then  it  was  that  La  Salle  renewed  his  determina- 


66  The  Mississippi 

tion  to  return  to  France.  After  La  Salle  had  sailed, 
Tonty  was  harassed  by  envoys  from  Quebec  and, 
throwing  up  his  job,  returned  to  the  capital  of  New 
France  in  the  autumn  of  1684,  to  compose  the 
"  Relation  "  which  we  have  briefly  summarised. 

VII — LOUIS  HENNEPIN 

Sparks,  and  other  authorities  on  the  missionaries, 
consigns  Father  Louis  Hennepin  "  to  that  amiable 
class  who  seem  to  tdl  truth  by  accident  and  fiction  by 
inclination."  At  most,  all  that  can  be  claimed  for 
Hennepin  is  that  he  was  first  to  get  into  print  an  ac- 
count of  any  voyage  on  the  Mississippi  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  northward  to  the  Fall  of  St. 
Anthony.  He  is  doubtless  entitled  to  that  great  place 
in  Mississippi  history.  All  students  of  that  period  must 
remember  that  Hennepin  was  a  Recollect  priest  and  had 
not  been  well  treated  by  the  Jesuits  at  Quebec,  ]Mon- 
treal,  or  Sault  Ste.  JNIarie,  owing  to  the  fact  that  he 
had  striven  to  eclipse  Allouez,  Marquette,  Dablon,  and 
other  Jesuits. 

The  Hennepin  narrative  begins  at  Fort  Crevecoeur, 
the  well-known  point  on  the  Illinois  about  midway  be- 
tween Lake  Michigan  and  the  IMississippi,  on  the  29th 
of  February,  1680.  It  describes  the  Illinois  as  having 
the  width  and  depth  of  the  Seine,  at  Paris.  The  date 
on  which  the  Mississippi  -vvas  reached  is  not  mentioned, 
but  on  March  12th,  Hennepin  describes  the  "  Colbert." 
as  he  insisted  upon  calling  the  great  river,  "  running 
south-south-west,  between  two  chains  of  mountains  which 
wind  with  the  river,  in  some  places  far  from  the  banks.  Be- 
tween the  river  and  the  hills  are  large  prairies,  on  which 


The  French  Explorations  67 

wild  cattle  are  often  seen  browsing.  This  great  river 
is  almost  eveiywhere  a  short  league  in  width,  and  in 
some  places  two  or  three  leagues." 

Hennepin  gives  the  first  graphic  description  of  the 
Lake  of  Tears  (Pepin),  "about  a  hundred  miles  be- 
low the  Fall  of  St.  Anthony."  This  cataract  he  de- 
scribes thus :  "  It  is  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  divided 
in  the  middle  by  a  rocky  island  of  pyramidal  form.  I 
called  the  cataract  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  in  gratitude 
for  favours  done  to  me  by  the  Almighty,  through  the 
intercession  of  that  great  saint,  whom  we  had  chosen 
as  patron  and  protector  of  all  our  enterprises." 

The  Sioux  believed,  according  to  H.  L.  Gordon, 
an  authority  on  Dakota  traditions,  that  the  Great  Unk- 
te-hee,  who  created  earth  and  man,  originally  dwelt  in 
a  cavern  under  the  Fall  of  St.  Anthony,  and  often  ap- 
peared to  mortals  in  the  form  of  a  buffalo-bull.  In 
such  form,  like  the  ancient  Egyptians  at  INIemphis,  they 
worshipped  him.  Recenth',  when  standing  in  the  Apis 
tomb  at  Sakkara,  the  vast  campo-santo  of  Memphis 
where  the  god-bulls  were  buried,  I  recalled  this  fea- 
tui*e  of  the  Sioux  religion.  A  very  curious  fact  about 
the  rock-hewn  mausoleum  at  Sakkara  is  that  one  of 
the  large,  black  granite  sarcophagi,  highty  polished  and 
inscribed,  lies,  with  its  lid,  inside  the  entrance  to  the 
vast  tomb.  It  never  was  put  in  place!  Why  was 
the  work  left  uncompleted?  Did  a  revolt  against  the 
deification  of  bulls,  a  protest  against  a  disgusting  re- 
ligious ceremonial,  occur  at  that  place,  because  the  folly 
of  worshipping  a  god  that  could  die  was  proclaimed 
and  conceded? 

Father  Hennepin  had  much  trouble  ^vitli  the  na- 
tives.    They  were  suspicious  of  his  prayers  and  use  of 


68  The  Mississippi 

the  rosa^^^  Finally,  he  and  his  party  were  captured 
and  Indian  paddlers  put  into  their  canoe.  "  Five 
leagues  below  St.  Anthony's  fall,"  the  Indians  broke 
up  Hennepin's  canoe,  and  distributed  the  members  of 
his  party  "  as  prisoners  to  three  heads  of  families  in 
place  of  three  of  their  children  killed  in  war."  The 
unfortunate  Frenchmen  were  made  to  swim  streams 
filled  with  floating  ice  and  subjected  to  many  other 
hardships.  A  favourite  trick  was  to  set  fire  to  grass 
in  the  path  of  the  prisoners. 

In  this  part  of  the  narrative,  there  is  complete  con- 
fusion of  dates.  Hennepin  describes  a  sort  of  Turkish 
bath  to  which  he  was  subjected  as  a  remedy  for  a 
severe  cold.  He  was  cured,  after  several  treatments. 
He  speaks  of  "  Indians  who  came  as  ambassadors  from 
five  hundred  leagues  to  the  West."  He  mentions  a 
trip  that  the  three  Frenchmen  made  with  a  single  In- 
dian to  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  in  the  hope  that 
*'  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle  had  sent  to  that  place  a  re- 
inforcement of  men  as  he  [La  Salle]  had  promised." 
That  trip  to  the  Wisconsin,  whether  it  occurred  or  not, 
is  graphically  described.  What  became  of  the  Indian 
guard  is  not  stated,  but  Hennepin  and  his  other  com- 
panions arrived  at  Mackinaw  late  that  fall  and  wintered 
there.  In  the  spring  of  1681,  the  party  returned  to 
Quebec  by  way  of  the  Detroit,  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario, 
and  the  St.  Lawrence. 

VIII — LA  s.\i.le's  last  \asiT 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  La  Salle,  he  assuredly 
possessed  determination.  Although  his  tales  of  travels 
in    the    New    World    were    somewhat    discredited,    he 


•-        K      Ci 


o 
be   U 


The  French  Explorations  69 

ascribed  the  disbelief  to  jealousy  and  secured  funds 
enough  to  fit  out  a  squadron  of  four  ships  in  the  winter 
of  1684  and  sailed  from  La  Rochelle.  His  own  ship, 
Le  Joli,  encountered  a  storm  in  which  she  fared  so 
badly  that  the  four  vessels  put  back  to  the  port  of 
departure  for  repairs.  Again,  they  sailed,  about  the 
last  of  December,  but  ran  into  a  storm  and  were  sepa- 
rated. A  Spanish  cruiser  captured  the  St.  Francois, 
but  the  other  three  came  to  a  rendezvous  at  Petit 
Goave,  Santo  Domingo.  We  shall  follow  the  narra- 
tive of  Cavelier,  a  brother  of  La  Salle  and,  although 
a  member  of  the  Sulpitian  order,  not  always  trust- 
worthy. 

At  the  period  in  which  the  Rev.  John  Cavelier's 
"  Narrative "  begins,  Europeans  possessed  only  one 
lodgment  on  the  Mississippi,  namely  Tonty's  stock- 
ade. La  Salle  hoped  to  ascend  the  great  river  from 
the  Gulf  to  that  haven  of  safety. 

Father  Cavelier's  first  important  statement  is  a 
distinct  allegation  that  Captain  Beaujeu,  commander 
of  La  Salle's  little  squadron,  deliberately  caused  the 
foremast  of  Le  Joli,  the  flagship,  to  be  sawed  so  that 
it  went  overboard  in  the  first  gale  thereafter  en- 
countered. This  commander  refused  to  proceed  beyond 
L'Espirito  Santo  Bay  (February  4,  1685).  He  sailed 
homeward  from  this  port  on  the  Gulf  of  Florida  (JNIex- 
ico)  on  March  14th,  leaving  La  Salle  with  only  one 
ship.  La  Belle. 

La  Salle,  undaunted,  founded  a  village,  and  built 
a  fort  to  protect  himself  from  the  Indians,  who  thought 
the  newcomers  Spaniards,  instead  of  Frenchmen.  He 
finally  made  peace,  and  the  Indians  guided  him  to  the 
interior,   where  they   showed  to   him   a   copper  plate. 


70  The  Mississippi 

dated  1588  and  camming  the  arms  of  Spain,  fastened 
to  a  post.  This  proved  that  the  Spaniards  had  preceded 
him. 

With  thirty  men,  La  Salle  set  out  by  land  from 
his  fort  to  the  mouth  of  the  ]Mississippi.  They  tramped 
two  months  and  ten  days — the  chronicler  omits  to  state 
in  what  direction.  At  an  Indian  village,  he  learned 
that  his  party  was  only  forty  leagues  from  the  sea.  He 
was  told  of  a  river  that  probably  was  the  Rio  Bravo. 

Shortly  after  La  Salle's  return  to  his  port  at 
L'Espirito  Santo  (or  St.  Louis  Bay,  as  he  renamed 
it),  his  smxall  frigate,  La  Belle,  was  wrecked.  The 
disaster  was  due  to  the  lack  of  sufficient  sailors.  All 
the  men  aboard,  except  eight,  were  lost.  In  this  dire 
extremity.  La  Salle  undertook  to  reach  Canada.  With 
Cavelier,  three  other  Frenchmen,  and  two  Shawnee  In- 
dians, he  started  on  April  13,  1685  [according  to  Le 
Clerq,  the  real  date  is  1686],  to  make  his  way  north 
to  the  Illinois  River,  the  route  up  which  to  Lake  Su- 
perior he  claimed  to  know.  Nearly  all  the  members  of 
the  party  were  prostrated  with  fever,  and  at  the  end 
of  forty  days,  they  returned  to  Saint  Louis  Bay. 
Abandoning  hope  of  reaching  Canada,  La  Salle  waited 
a  year  in  expectation  that  his  King  would  send  a 
rescuing  ship:  but  when  the  beginning  of  1687  came, 
he  determined  upon  a  second  attempt  to  ascend  the 
Mississippi.  He  selected  only  twenty-eight  of  his  most 
vigorous  men,  [Anastasius  says  20:  Joutel,  17],  and 
started  on  January  6th.  From  that  date  to  the 
16th  of  February,  when  the  "  Narrative "  of  Cave- 
lier abruptly  ends,  we  have  each  da3^'s  march  set 
down. 

Not   the   slightest   evidence   exists    that    La    Salle 


The  French  Explorations  71 

reached  the  banks  of  the  jNIississippi.  On  January 
17th,  at  an  Indian  village,  thej^  witnessed  a  bull  fight, 
in  which  Indians  on  horseback  armed  with  lances  fought 
bulls  exactly  as  the  picadores  of  Spain  do  to-day. 
From  that  tribe.  La  Salle  bought  thirty  horses  for 
thirty  knives,  ten  hatchets,  and  a  few  needles. 

La  Salle  died  about  this  time,  which  accounts  for 
the  cessation  of  his  brother's  "  Narrative."  The 
latter  returned  to  Canada  and  ultimately  to  France, 
but  concealed  the  fate  of  La  Salle  for  two 
years. 

There  is  a  note  of  suspicion  in  even^  line  of  Cavelier. 
Whether  La  Salle  was  saint  or  imposter  must  always 
be  in  doubt,  owing  to  the  curious,  irreconcilable  record 
left  by  Cavelier. 

IX — ST.  cosme's  voyage 

The  scene  again  shifts  to  the  North-west.  Francis 
Joliet  de  ^Montigny,  born  at  Paris  in  1661,  had  been 
ordained  priest  at  Quebec  in  1693.  Accompanied  by 
Fathers  Davion  and  St.  Cosme,  he  intended  to  found 
a  mission  of  the  Jesuit  Seminary  of  Quebec  on  the 
Mississippi.  He  bore  the  appointment  of  Vicar  Gen- 
eral of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec.  This  expedition  was 
outfitted  at  lavish  expense;  but  !M.  de  Montigny  re- 
turned from  this  trip  disgruntled,  gave  up  his  post  at 
Quebec,  went  to  France,  and  refused  to  take  further 
interest  in  American  missions.  Exactly  what  occurred 
to  sour  him  never  will  be  known.  He  was  sent  to  China, 
but  returned  to  Paris  and  died,  1725.  The  "  Narra- 
tives "  of  St.  Cosme  and  Davion  are  equally  valuable 
and  interesting. 


72  The  Mississippi 

The  letter  of  J.  F.  Buisson  St.  Cosme,  missionary 
priest,  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  all  documents  concerning  the  opening  of 
the  upper  Mississippi.  To  it,  largely,  we  owe  a  proper 
appreciation  of  Henry  de  Tonty.  As  a  lieutenant  of 
La  Salle,  Tonty  had  directed  affairs  in  Illinois  with 
tact.     He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Detroit. 

Montigny,  Father  St.  Cosme,  Father  Davion,  the 
Sieur  de  Vincennes, — here  first  mentioned  and  ap- 
parently a  nephew  of  Louis  Joliet, — and  Tonty,  the 
Neapolitan,  left  Mackinaw  on  September  15, 1698.  The 
intrepid  Tonty  agreed  to  pilot  the  party  to  and  down 
the  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  Arkansas.  The  expedi- 
tion followed  the  usual  course  into  Lake  ^lichigan,  to 
Green  Bay,  at  the  head  of  which  they  found  a  Jesuit 
mission.  The  direct  route  thence  to  the  great  river  was 
through  Green  Bay  and  down  the  Wisconsin;  but  the 
Foxes  were  hostile  and  this  party  was  obliged  to  go 
by  the  Chikagu  (Chicago)  route.  They  coasted  down 
the  west  side  of  Lake  Michigan,  arriving  at  the  site  of 
Milwaukee  on  October  7th.  There,  the  Sieur  de  Vin- 
cennes parted  with  the  missionaries,  as  he  was  going 
to  the  country  of  the  Miamis.  Arriving  at  the  Jesuit 
mission  near  the  present  site  of  Chicago,  Montigny, 
Davion,  and  St.  Cosme  were  hospitably  received.  On 
the  24th,  a  start  was  made  up  the  Chicago  River.  The 
route  to  the  Mississippi  followed  that  of  the  present 
drainage  canal  into  the  Illinois.  Lowness  of  water  in 
both  rivers  made  the  journey  tedious.  Of  this  trip, 
lasting  about  six  weeks,  owing  to  halts  at  various 
missions,  Tonty  was  the  hero.  He  proved  himself  dip- 
lomatist, as  well  as  leader.  The  Italian  had  been  among 
the    Illinois    three    years    before.     Tonty's    shibboleth 


The  French  Explorations  73 

ahvays  was,  "We  do  not  fear  men!" — meaning  that  they 
only  feared  God. 

The  Mississippi  was  sighted  on  the  5th  of  December. 
St.  Cosme  thus  describes  it  at  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois : 
"  Micissippi  is  a  large  and  beautiful  river,  that  comes 
from  the  north.  It  divides  into  several  channels,  which 
form  beautiful  islands.  It  makes  several  bends  but 
seems  to  me  to  keep  always  the  same  direction  to  the 
south  as  far  as  the  Akanseas.  It  is  lined  by  very  fine 
forests." 

Embarking  on  the  6th,  after  making  six  leagues, 
the  party  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  ^lissouri.  "  It 
comes  from  the  west  and  is  so  muddy  that  it  spoils  the 
waters  of  the  Micissippi,  which,  down  to  that  point,  are 
clear." 

Upon  a  lofty  headland,  on  the  west  bank,  a  cross 
was  planted,  to  the  singing  of  Veocilla  Regis.  Tbey 
camped  on  the  night  of  December  15,  1698,  a  short 
distance  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabache.^  Nothing 
befell  the  party  until  they  reached  the  Arkansas's  mouth, 
except  the  discovery  and  description  of  the  first  peli- 
can,— "  as  large  as  a  swan,  its  bill  a  foot  long  and  the 
throat  of  such  extraordinary  size  that  it  will  hold  a 
bushel  of  wheat."  Christmas  was  celebrated  with  high 
mass;  and  an  earthquake  occurred  at  one  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.     Even  the  earth  was  busy. 

A  large  Indian  village  was  reached  on  St.  John's 
day,  where  the  calumet,  or  peace  pipe,  was  smoked.^ 

1  The  Ohio  was  called  "  Wabash  "  by  the  French  from  its  mouth 
to  the  source  of  the  present  Wabash;  the  Ohio  being  the  part  from 
Fort  Duquesne  (Pittsburg)  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash.  (See 
Gravier's  Journal.)      Shea,  69. 

-  Marquette  had  first  described  the  calumet.  Father  Gravier  also 
gives  an  account  of  this  ceremonial.     3  Shea  (St.  Cosme's  voyage,  73). 


74  The  Mississippi 

Here  they  parted  from  Tonty,  who  had  to  return  to 
the  land  of  the  IlHnois.  St.  Cosme  thus  speaks  of  him: 
"  He  is  the  man  who  knows  the  country  best.  He  has 
been  twice  to  the  sea :  he  has  been  twice  far  inland  to  the 
remotest  nations.     He  is  loved  and  feared  everywhere." 

This  letter  of  Father  Cosme  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec 
was  accompanied  by  a  brief  missive  from  Sieur  de  ^lon- 
tigny,  detailing  the  establishment  of  Father  Davion 
among  the  Tonicas  on  the  ^lississippi  sixty  leagues  be- 
low the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  He  speaks  of  his  own 
stay  among  the  Taensas,  first  mentioned  by  Father 
Membre,  and  a  projected  visit  to  the  Natchez.  He  de- 
scribes their  "  rather  fine  temples,  the  walls  of  which 
are  of  mats."  Their  religion  "  is  serpent  worship." 
In  another  place,  he  says  "  the  serpent  is  one  of  their 
divinities."  He  adds:  "  They  do  not  dare  to  accept  or 
appropriate  anything  without  taking  it  to  the  temple." 
Among  the  Taensas,  the  death  of  a  popular  chief  was 
accompanied  by  the  killing  of  all  the  braves  who  volun- 
teered to  go  with  him  to  the  happy  hunting  grounds. 
"  Last  year,"  writes  JMontigny,^  "  when  the  chief  of  the 
Taensas  died,  twelve  persons  offered  to  die.  They  were 
tomahawked." 

The  same  courier  took  a  letter  from  the  Rev. 
Dominic  de  la  Source,  also  with  the  INIontigny  expedi- 
tion. It  does  not  add  any  details.  All  these  com- 
munications bear  final  date  of  January  2,  1699. 

X IBERVILLE   BANISHES  ALL   ]MYSTERIES 

Although  La  Salle  had  really  estabhshed  the  con- 
necting Hnks  between  the  great  river  of  Hernando  de 

1  Shea,  Early  Voyages  Up  and  Down  the  Mississippi,  78. 


The   French  Explorations  75 

Soto  and  the  mighty  stream  far  to  the  northward  with 
which  the  names  of  Radisson,  JoHet  and  jNIarquette, 
Hennepin  and  Tonty  are  associated,  his  statements  and 
those  of  his  chroniclers  did  not  carry  conviction.  The 
honour  of  converting  assumption  into  established  fact 
remained  for  another  Frenchman,  Pierre  Le  Moyne 
dTbei*ville,  seventeen  years  after  La  Salle's  expedition 
of  1682.  Sieur  dTberville  was  born  at  Montreal,  July 
16,  1661.  He  entered  the  French  navy  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  and  saw  active  service  in  command  of  a  frigate 
as  early  as  1692.  He  was  sent  to  Hudson  Bay  in  1694 
and  again  in  1697.  Going  to  France,  he  w^as  com- 
missioned during  the  winter  of  1698-99  to  establish 
direct  commercial  relations  with  the  lower  JNIississippi. 
Collecting  all  previous  data,  he  made  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  coast  line  of  the  Gulf  west  of  Florida. 
He  it  was  who  finally  cleared  up  all  doubts  about  the 
Mississippi  emptying  into  the  "  Bay  of  Saint-Espirit,'* 
or  ^lobile  Bay.  This  bay  was  the  rendezvous  of  his 
vessels  and  he  decided  that  neither  of  the  two  rivers 
entering  it  could  be  the  one  of  which  he  was  in  search. 
He  coasted  westward  until  he  found  a  haven  that  after- 
wards received  the  name  of  Biloxi.  Acting  on  infomia- 
tion  obtained  from  the  natives,  Iberville  left  his  ships 
at  anchor  and,  on  February  27th,  set  out  with  a  party 
in  small  boats  toward  the  west.  He  had  been  told  that 
the  large  river  which  the  Indians  called  the  "  JNIalban- 
chia,"  the  same  that  the  Spaniards  described  as  the 
"  River  of  the  Palisades,"  lay  fifteen  or  twenty  leagues 
in  that  direction.  He  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  JNIis- 
sissippi River  on  the  night  of  ^larch  2,  1699.  Com- 
menting .on  the  momentous  importance  of  this  event, 
Brower  says: 


76  The  Mississippi 

Up  to  this  time,  the  Spaniards  seem  to  have  acted  like 
dogs  in  the  manger  in  respect  to  the  lower  Mississippi,  and 
the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  east  and  wast.  Al- 
though the  entire  coast  line  had  long  before  been  explored  by 
their  ships,  no  information  concerning  it  had  been  directly 
published.  They  evidently  knew  about  the  embrochure  of  the 
river,  for  they  called  it  "  the  River  of  the  Palisades,"  on  ac- 
count of  the  bristling  appearance  presented  by  the  trees  that 
had  drifted  from  upstream  and  lodged  at  the  outlets  of  the 
delta,  where  they  helped  to  form  bars.  The  Spaniards  assured 
Iberville  that,  by  reason  of  these  bars,  there  was  not  any 
entrance.     Fortunately,  he  did  not  believe  them. 

Iberville  and  his  brother,  Bienville,  made  a  thorough 
and  systematic  exploration  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
Mississippi.  Exactly  how  far  northward  he  penetrated 
is  uncertain.  The  best  opinion  is  that  he  ascended  to  the 
Red  River.  He  could  not  reconcile  manj^  of  the  state- 
ments made  by  La  Salle  and  his  chroniclers  with  the 
topography  as  he  found  it;  but  when  he  received  from 
an  Indian  chief  a  letter — "  the  speaking  bark "  he 
called  it — that  Tonty  had  left  in  1G85  to  be  delivered 
to  La  Salle,  when  he  should  ascend  the  river,  Iber\dlle 
knew  that  he  had  solved  the  greatest  mystery  of  the 
New  World.  This  first  voyage  of  Iben^ille  closes 
the  story  of  French  exploration  on  the  lower  two  thirds 
of  the  Mississippi.  Contemporaneously,  Le  Seuer,  as 
we  shall  see,  was  seeking  a  blue  clay  in  the  Minnesota 
region,  overlooking  the  fact  that  unless  he  found  sap- 
phires and  turquoises  his  merchandise  would  not  admit 
of  transportation  to  an  eastern  market. 

XI LE  SEUER  AND  BLUE  MUD 

The   first  mention  of   Le   Seuer,   a   Canadian   and 


The  French  Explorations  77 

relative  of  Iberville,  is  as  a  coureur  de  hois  at  Chegoi- 
megon,  on  Lake  Superior.  His  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  Dakota  language  gave  high  value  to  his 
services  as  mediator  for  the  Quebec  government  between 
the  Chippewas  and  Dakotas. 

Les  coureurs  des  hois  were  of  a  class  that  made 
themselves  popular  by  teiTorism, — anticipating  the  cow- 
boys of  the  western  plains.  They  were  lawless,  half 
traders,  half  explorers,  wholly  bent  on  divertisement, 
and  not  discouraged  by  misery  or  peril.  They  lived 
in  utter  disregard  of  all  religious  teaching,  but  the 
priesthood,  among  savages,  were  fain  to  w^ink  at  their 
immoraUties  because  of  their  strong  anns  and  efficient 
use  of  weapons  of  defence.  Charlevoix  says  that 
"  while  the  Indian  did  not  become  French,  the  French- 
man became  savage."  Not  until  Frontenac's  day  were 
these  French  vagabonds  brought  under  control.  Of 
such  antecedents  was  Le  Seuer. 

The  account  of  Le  Seuer's  long  voyage  on  the  upper 
Mississippi  in  1699-1700  is  here  summarised  from  Ber- 
nard de  la  Harpe's  transcripts  of  Le  Seuer's  journals. 
He  was  sent  out  to  Canada  from  France  with  the  ships 
Renommee  and  Gironde  to  form  "  an  establishment  at 
the  source  "  of  the  Mississippi.  Reports  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  mine  of  green  or  blue  earth,  somewhere  on 
the  upper  jNIississippi,  had  reached  France.  As  Shea 
very  truly  says,  such  a  mine  doesn't  seem  an  over- 
valuable  thing  to  cross  the  ocean  and  half  a  continent 
to  seek.  By  order  of  Frontenac,  Governor  General  of 
Canada,  Le  Seuer,  had,  in  1695,  built  a  fort  on  an  island 
in  the  Mississippi  "two  hundred  leagues  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  to  maintain  peace  between  the 
Sioux   [See-ous]  who  dwelt  in  the  Minnesota  country 


78  The  Mississippi 

and  the  Ojibwas  (Chippewas  or  Sauteurs)  of  the 
Lake  Superior  region."  It  was  then  that  he  discovered 
the  green  or  bkie  earth  in  ]Minnesota.  He  went  to 
France  in  1097  to  sohcit  a  grant  of  the  mines.  Obtain- 
ing it,  he  embarked  at  La  Rochelle  in  June  of  that 
year,  but,  off  the  Newfoundland  banks,  his  vessel  was 
taken  by  an  English  fleet  of  sixteen  ships  and  he  was 
carried  prisoner  to  Portsmouth.  Peace  being  declared, 
Le  Seuer  hurried  to  Paris  to  secure  a  new  commission, 
— having  thrown  his  former  one  overboard  to  prevent 
his  identity  being  known.  A  new  commission  was 
issued,  bearing  date  of  1698.  "^ATien  he  reached 
Canada,  Frontenac  turned  against  him  and  prevented 
him  from  proceeding  to  the  JMississippi  region.  He 
returned  again  to  France  and  arrived  in  the  colony  of 
Louisiana  on  December  7,  1699.  He  made  a  trip  up 
the  Mississippi  and  was  gone  about  two  years,  reappear- 
ing at  Fort  Biloxi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  on 
Februarj^  10, 1702.  The  account  of  this  long  up-stream 
voyage  and  return  is  the  most  valuable  of  all  early 
Mississippi  chronicles,  because  it  carries  conviction  re- 
garding its  truthfulness,  but  it  is  not  interesting  read- 
ing, kept,  as  it  is,  in  diary  form. 

A  letter  from  Le  Seuer,  dated  Paris,  1701  [e^^- 
dently  this  date  is  an  error  or  has  been  tampered  with], 
exists  in  which  this  trader  denounces  as  an  imposter 
one  INIathieu  Sagean,  who  had  appeared  in  France  with 
a  wonderful  tale  of  his  explorations  of  the  JNIississippi 
far  above  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River.  His  story 
was  that  he  had  been  associated  with  La  Salle  and 
Tonty  in  the  expedition  of  1683  and  had  obtained  per- 
mission of  his  chief  to  penetrate  far  toward  the  head- 
waters of  the  mighty  river.     But,  as  his  narrative  did 


The  French  Fxplorations  79 

not  appear  until  after  Hennepin  had  announced  the 
discovery  of  the  Fall  of  St.  Anthony,  Sagean's  account 
of  "  a  high  fall,  around  which  it  was  necessary  to  make 
a  portage  of  six  leagues  "  did  not  impress  anybody. 
Sagean  was  an  imposter  of  the  Glazier  type,  and,  as 
Brower  says,  "  had  he  been  other  than  an  illiterate  man, 
he  would  have  written  a  book  " — claiming  everything 
set  down  by  previous  chroniclers. 

XII PHILOLOGY    OF    MISSISSIPPI 

The  Mississippi  River  has  borne  many  names;  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  long  stream  have  carried  titles  of 
their  own.  Prior  to  Hernando  de  Soto's  arrival,  the 
aboriginal  tribes  along  its  banks  had  separate  designa- 
tions for  the  river  traversing  their  own  possessions.  The 
Cortes  map  gives  to  the  river  the  name  "  Espiritu 
Sancto,"  w^hich  never  was  accurately  applied  to  the  lower 
Mississippi.  A  list  of  all  known  appellations,  gathered 
by  J.  V.  Brower,  is  as  follows: 

Meche  Sebe,  the  original  Algonquin  designation. 

Chucagua,  an  Indian  name,  noted  by  Soto's  expedition. 

Tamaliseii,  an  Indian  name,  noted  by  Soto's  expedition. 

Tapatu,  an  Indian  name,  noted  by  Soto's  expedition. 

Mico,  an  Indian  name,  noted  by  Soto's  expedition. 

Rio  Grande,  a  Spanish  designation,  noted  by  Soto's  ex- 
pedition. 

"  The  River,"  a  Spanish  designation,  noted  by  Soto's  ex- 
pedition. 

Palisado,  a  Spanish  designation,  from  floating  trees  seen 
near  its  mouth,  giving  the  appearance  of  a  palisade. 

Escondido,  a  Spanish  designation ;  hidden  from  sight  by 
the  innumerable  passes,  cut  offs,  bayous,  etc.,  at  and  above  its 
mouth,  making  it  difficult  to  discover  the  main  channel. 


8o  The  Mississippi 

St.  Louis,  a  French  designation. 

Conception,  a  French  designation,  by  Marquette. 

Buade,  so  called  by  Joliet  after  the  family  name  of  Gov. 
Frontenao. 

Colbert,  after  Jean  Baptiste  Colbert,  an  eminent  French 
statesman. 

Mischipi,  Nicolas  Freytas's  visit  to  the  Quivira  tribes,  1661. 

Messipi,  Father  Allouez,  in  "  Relation  "  of  1667. 

Meschasipi,  Hennepin  map  of  1697. 

Michi  Sepe,  Labal's  version. 

Misisipi,  Labatt's  version. 

Missisipi,  Marquette's  spelling. 

Mississipi,  a  later  French  version. 

Mississippi,  the  American  spelling,  adopted  in  the  nine- 
teenth century. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Jonathan  Carver  to  William  Morrison 

ALTHOUGH  Jonathan  Carver  is  the  next  visitor 
to  the  upper  Mississippi  region  whose  record  is 
beyond  dispute,  much  had  been  written  in  the 
meantime  about  the  locality.     From  his  dungeon  in  the 
Bastile,  Antoine  de  la  !Mothe  Cadillac,  long  stationed 
at  Mackinaw  and  Detroit,  wrote  in  his  "  Memoires  " : 

As  regards  the  source  of  the  Mississippi,  we  can  say  that 
it  is  in  48°  N.  latitude  and  9G°  W.  longitude.  It  apparently 
has  its  origin  in  some  lake,  which  forms  another  river,  going 
to  the  north  and  discharging  itself  into  the  great  lake  of  the 
Assiniboines,  which  forms  rivers  without  end  that  empty  them- 
selves towards  Fort  Nelson,  and  into  other  great  bays.  This 
lake  is  called  by  the  savages  "  The  Grandfather  of  All  Lakes," 
meaning  that  it  is  incomparably  greater  than  all  others. 

An  English  traveller  and  astronomer,  David 
Thompson,  entered  the  service  of  the  North-west  Com-> 
pany  in  1797  and  in  his  capacity  as  a  trader  crossed  the 
country  lying  between  the  western  end  of  Lake  Superior 
and  the  Manitoban  region.  He  traversed  the  Messaba 
district,  and  had  he  been  a  geologist,  as  well  as  as- 
tronomer, might  have  discovered  the  richest  deposits 
of  iron  ore  on  this  continent.  He  first  suggested  a 
junction,  at  their  sources,  of  the  waters  of  the  Red 
and  the  Mississippi  rivers.  He  left  the  Mouse  River, 
February  25,  1798,  with  a  dog  train.  He  passed  up 
the  Red  River  of  the  North  to  Red  Lake  River  and 


82  The  Mississippi 

arrived  at  Red  Lake  on  April  17th.  Turning  south- 
ward, he  came  to  Turtle  Lake  on  the  27th.  He  de- 
clared that  "  Turtle  Brook,"  which  flowed  to  the 
southward  from  that  lake,  was  the  JNIississippi,  and  that 
Turtle  Lake  w^as  the  source  of  the  great  river.  Thus 
it  is  seen  that  he  anticipated  Pike,  Cass,  and  Beltrami 
by  many  years.  He  was  onlj^  guessing,  as  w^ere  they. 
Thompson  descended  Turtle  River  to  Red  Cedar  Lake 
(Lake  Cass)  and  thence  passed  by  the  main  stream  to 
Sandy  Lake  River,  going  to  Lake  Superior  over  the 
well-worn  trail  that  marked  the  "  carry "  to  the  St. 
Louis  River.  His  reports  make  the  first  mention  of 
Lake  "  Winnipegoos,"  the  largest  body  of  open  water 
in  the  Mississippi's  path.  He  was  unqualifiedly  the 
first  white  man  to  traverse  that  part  of  the  upper  stream 
between  Lake  Cass  and  the  mouth  of  Sandy  Lake 
River.  Curiously,  he  does  not  make  mention  of  Poke- 
gama  Fall,  an  obstiniction  that  he  could  not  possibly 
have  overlooked. 

M.  de  La  Verendrye  very  narrowly  escaped  associa- 
tion wath  the  search  for  the  sources  of  the  JNIississippi 
River.  He  was  familiar  with  the  route  from  Lake 
Superior  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  through  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  and  should  have  possessed  a  fairly  accurate 
know^ledge,  by  hearsay,  of  the  region  directly  to  the 
southw^ard  of  that  well-travelled  water  route;  but,  in 
1737,  he  sent  to  Paris  w^hat  purported  to  be  a  map  of  the 
country  west  and  north  of  Superior  in  which  Red  Lake 
is  set  down  as  emptying  into  the  Red  River  of  the  North 
and  reaching  Lake  Winnipeg  through  the  channel  of 
the  latter.  Nothing  could  be  more  erroneous.  Veren- 
drye coasted  Lake  Superior  and  passed  to  Winnipeg 
by  the  well-known  route  through  Rainy  Lake  and  Lake 


Jonathan  Carver  to  William  Morrison      83 

of  the  Woods.  He  ascended  the  Assinihoine  and  Sas- 
katchewan rivers  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  was 
very  near  the  sources  of  the  JNIississippi,  if  he  went  by 
Red  Lake,  as  some  versions  of  his  narrative  claim,  but 
he  never  visited  them  or  saw  any  part  of  the  stream. 
He  seems  to  have  possessed  some  acquaintance  w4th 
Turtle  River,  flowing  into  Lake  Cass,  and  thought 
to  be  the  continuation  of  the  Mississippi  by  Beltrami, 
Pike,  Cass,  and  all  predecessors  of  Schoolcraft.  This 
is  said  without  prejudice  to  William  Morrison,  who  did 
not  announce  his  visit  to  Lac  la  Biche  in  1802  until 
January  16, 1856,  when  the  narratives  of  Schoolcraft  and 
Nicollet  had  been  in  print  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

The  claim  of  Wilham  Morrison,  which  has  been 
conceded  by  J.  V.  Brower,  the  First  Commissioner  of 
the  Itasca  State  Park  and  the  highest  authority  upon 
JNIississippi  exploration  in  Minnesota,  rests  entirely 
upon  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Morrison  to  a  brother, 
dated  from  Berthier,  January  16, 1856.  Omitting  only 
references  to  family  matters,  it  runs  as  follows: 

My  Dear  Brother: — Your  letter  of  the  2Gth  ultimo  has- 
come  to  hand.  ...  I  note  what  yoti  say  concerning  the  source 
of  the  Mississippi.  You  wish  to  know  who  was  the  first  per- 
son who  went  to  its  source.  For  the  information  of  the  His- 
torical Society,  I  will  state  to  you  all  about  what  came  to  my 
knowledge,  by  which  you  will  perceive  that  H.  R.  Schoolcraft 
is  in  error  and  that  he  was  not  the  first  person  who  made  the 
discovery  of  the  source  of  the  Mississippi. 

I  left  the  old  Grand  Portage,  July,  1802,  landed  at  Leech 
lake  in  September.  In  October,  I  went  and  wintered  on 
one  of  the  Crow  Wing  streams  near  its  source.  Our  Indians 
were  Pillagers;  in  1803^,  I  went  and  wintered  at  Lac  La 
Folle.  I  left  Leech  lake,  passed  by  Red  Cedar  lake.  n\)  river 
Lac  Travers  to  the  lake  of  that  name,  then  up  river  La  Biche 


84  The  Mississippi 

or  Elk  river,  to  near  Lac  La  Biche,  when  we  made  a  portage 
to  fall  into  Lac  La  Folle.  Lac  La  Biclie  is  near  to  Lac  La 
Folle.  Lac  La  Biche  is  the  source  of  the  Great  River  Missis- 
sippi, which  I  visited  in  1804,  and  if  the  late  Gen.  Pike  did 
not  lay  it  down  as  such  when  he  came  to  Leech  lake  it  is  be- 
cause he  did  not  happen  to  meet  me.  I  was  at  an  outpost 
that  winter.  The  late  Gen.  Pike  laid  down  on  his  book  Red 
Cedar  lake  as  the  head  of  the  Mississippi  river.  I  did  not 
trace  any  vestige  of  white  men  before  me.  In  1811-12,  I 
wintered  again  at  Lac  La  Folle  near  to  the  plains.  We  went 
down  river  La  Folle  some  distance.  I  then  overtook  a  gentle- 
man with  an  outfit  from  Michilimackinac,  Mr.  Otepe,  with 
whom  I  parted  only  at  Fond  du  Lac.  He  took  the  south 
towards  Mch'a  and  I  north  to  our  headquarters,  which  had 
been  changed  to  Fort  William  north  of  the  Grand  Portage. 
This  I  expect  will  explain  that  I  visited  in  1804,  Elk  lake,  and 
again  in  1811-12.  With  respect  to  the  first  Fond  du  Lac 
traders,  we  all  came  from  Mackinac.  Some  came  by  Lake 
Superior  and  others  up  by  Prairie  du  Chien,  up  to  Crow  Wing 
and  some  went  to  Lac  La  Que  de  I'Outre — Otter  Tail  lake — 
Messrs.  Reaume,  Cotton,  Casselais,  Sayers,  Letang  and  several 
others,  some  came  by  Lake  Superior  and  others  up  the  Missis- 
sippi by  way  of  Prairie  du  Chien.  These  persons  were  per- 
sons who  preceded  us.  The  French  had  trading  posts  on  Lake 
Superior,  but  not  in  the  interior  of  F.  D.  L.  that  I  could  ever 
discover.  The  late  Mr.  Sayers  returned  from  Mckina  and 
found  that  his  bands  of  Indians  had  died  by  the  smallpox 
—1780—1  think. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  amiss  to  mention  that  I  went  to  the 
Indian  country  engaged  to  Sir  Alexander  McKenzie  &  Co., 
who  had  joined  stock  with  the  X.  Y.  Co.,  formerly  the  Richard- 
son &  Co.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

William   Morrison. 

Mr.  Morrison  was  born  in  Canada  in  1783,  and  died 
there  August  7,  1866:  records  indicate  that  he  became 
a  naturalised  citizen  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Louisiana  Purchase 

THE  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  had 
stupendous  results  and  largely  made  most  of 
the  history  of  the  United  States  for  the  sixty 
years  that  followed  the  act.  By  thus  securing  this  vast 
region  from  France,  Jefferson  not  only  doubled  the 
existing  area  of  our  country  but  secured  possession 
of  the  Mississippi  River  from  its  source  to  the  sea. 
Napoleon  comprehended  the  sacrifice  France  was  mak- 
ing when  he  exclaimed,  "  I  have  given  to  England  a 
maritime  rival  that,  sooner  or  later,  will  humble  her 
pride."  The  far-reaching  effects  of  this  event  are  well 
stated  by  John  W.  Foster  in  A  Century  of  American 
Diplomacy  (page  204)  : 


It  made  the  acquisition  of  Florida  a  necessity.  It  brought 
about  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  Mexican  War,  the  thirst 
for  more  slave  territory  to  preserve  the  balance  of  power,  the 
Civil  War,  and  the  abolition  of  slavery.  It  led  to  our  Pacific 
coast  possessions,  the  construction  of  the  trans-continental 
lines  of  railway  and  our  marvellous  Rocky  Mountain  develop- 
ment, the  demand  for  an  Isthmus  Canal,  the  purchase  of 
Alaska,  the  annexation  of  Hawaii.  It  opened  up  to  us  the 
great  field  of  commercial  development  beyond  the  Pacific  in 
Ja])an,  China,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea.     It  fixed  our  destiny 

8s 


86  The    Mississippi 

as  a  great  Trorld  power,  the  effects  of  which  we  are  to-day  just 
beginning  to  realise. 

The  history  of  the  undefined  region  described  as 
the  Louisiana  Territory  is  exceedingly  complex  and  the 
ablest  historians  have  never  been  able  to  disentangle 
truth  from  fiction  concerning  the  early  period.  Re- 
ligion and  love  of  gold  had  equal  parts  in  opening 
and  fixing  the  nationalities  of  nearly  every  section  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  Francis  Parkman  has  told  the 
wonderful  story  of  what  the  black  robe  of  the  Jesuit 
did  for  the  North-west  and  the  delta  of  "  The  Father 
of  Waters."  La  Salle  was  responsible  for  dedicating 
the  whole  region  to  France  under  the  name  of  "  Louisi- 
ana." His  chief  thought  was  to  outrival  Champlain 
on  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  secured  footing  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  region  ahead  of  the  English  and  by  a  chain 
of  forts  from  New  Orleans  to  Blue  Earth,  in  ^lin- 
nesota,  he  planned  to  keep  them  out.  La  Salle  did  not 
live  to  carry  out  his  dream,  but  the  idea  survived  him. 
In  1699,  the  first  settlement  was  established  in  Louisi- 
ana and  in  1712,  Antoine  Crozat  obtained  a  grant  from 
Louis  XIV.  which  defined  its  boundaries  so  amazingly 
that  the  country  of  Louisiana  included  the  entire  ^lis- 
sissippi  watershed  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Rocky 
^fountains.  The  text,  taken  from  Martin's  Lonisiana, 
(i.,  178),  is  as  follows: 

The  territory  is  bounded  by  New  Mexico  on  the  West;  by 
the  English  lands  of  Carolina  on  the  East,  including  all  the 
establishments,  posts,  havens,  and  principally  the  port  and 
haven  of  the  Isle  of  Dauphin,  heretofore  called  Massacre;  the 
River  St.  Louis,  heretofore  called  Mississii)])i,  from  the  edge 
of  the  sea  as  far  (north)  as  the  Illinois  (country)  ;  together 
with   the   River   St.    Philip,   heretofore   called   Missouri,    the 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  87 

River  St.  Jerome  heretofore  called  Ouabache  (Ohio),  with 
all  lakes  and  rivers  mediately  or  immediately  flowing  into  any 
part  of  the  river  Saint  Louis  or  Mississippi. 

The  northern  houndaiy  of  this  immeasurable  tract 
of  land  was  defined  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  (1713)  to 
be  the  forty-ninth  degree  of  north  latitude.  Crozat 
could  not  find  any  gold  on  his  concession  and  surren- 
dered his  charter  to  the  Crown  in  1717. 

"  The  Western  Company,"  with  which  John  Law 
was  connected,  took  over  the  Crozat  concession  and,  so 
characteristic  of  the  "  frenzied  financier "  as  subse- 
quently revealed,  claimed  the  whole  of  the  Illinois 
country  as  having  been  included  in  the  charter,  but  the 
question  never  was  decided. 

According  to  a  painstaking  historian,  John  W.- 
JNIonette,  who  published  two  large  volumes  on  this  sub- 
ject in  1846,  "  The  project  of  purchasing  New  Orleans 
and  Eastern  Louisiana  was  entertained  from  the 
beginning  of  Washington's  administration."  ^  Had 
New  France  and  Louisiana  grown  together  as  La 
Salle  dreamed,  France  would  have  become  a  dominant 
power  in  North  America,  from  which  Great  Britain 
never  could  have  dislodged  her;  but  personal  infatua- 
tion for  the  court  life  of  Paris  overcame  ambition  for 
dominant  power  in  the  New  World.  The  effect  of 
these  influences  upon  the  swaggering  French  roj^al- 
ists  of  Quebec  is  admirably  described  in  a  recent  novel 
entitled  L,e  Cliien  d'Or.  New  France  passed  into 
English  hands  (1763)  ;  Louisiana  was  neglected.  In 
1717,  as  mentioned  above,  it  had  been  handed  over  to 


1  Monette's  History  of  the  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi  Valley,  vol.  i.,  503. 


88  The  Mississippi 

John  Law  and  was  used  by  him  as  the  pretext  for  the 
most  high-handed  financial  scheming  known  to  history 
until  emulators  in  the  United  States  outshone  him  dur- 
ing the  unwatched  period  of  do-nothing  Presidents, 
extending  from  1868  to  1901. 

While  Louis  XIV.  lived,  he  was  "  The  State,"  as 
he  claimed,  but  he  was  a  weak  monarch  and  the  kings 
that  followed  him  were  cursed  with  weaker  advisers 
than  he  had  possessed.  In  1762,  France  ceded  her 
possession  to  Spain  and  for  nearly  forty  years  the 
people  of  Louisiana  led  a  semi-tropical  existence,  hardly 
conscious  of  the  yoke  they  carried.  "  Under  what  king, 
Bezonian?"  never  was  asked  in  the  absinthe  taverns  of 
the  Orleans  in  the  New  World. 

Her  people  hardly  noticed  "  the  shot  heard  around 
the  world  " ;  or,  if  they  did,  failed  to  realise  its  import 
to  them.  Doubtless,  the  American  Revolution  was  of 
much  less  interest  to  the  French  of  New  Orleans  than 
was  the  Revolution  in  Paris  that  hurried  fast  upon 
the  conclusion  of  the  former.  The  two  great  social 
upheavals  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  of  minor  in- 
terest to  New  Orleans  at  the  time,  but  both  vitally 
affected  her  destiny. 

Diplomacy  recognised  the  importance  of  the  trans- 
Mississippi  region.  Napoleon  and  Jefferson  had  a 
simultaneous  thought.  The  effect  of  the  French  phi- 
losophers upon  Jefferson's  mind  was  apparent  in  every 
act  of  his  public  career.  Voltaire,  Diderot,  and  Rous- 
seau had  taught  that  "  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  and 
the  people  were  one, — liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity 
of  mankind." 

The  young  American  Republic  was  a  real  thing.  ^ 

1  Those  interested  in  the  policy  of  France  toward  the  Mississippi 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  89 

During  the  period  between  1783  and  1793,  Washing- 
ton shoe-buckles  and  Frankhn  snuff-boxes  were  a  fad 
of  Paris.  Out  of  the  French  Revolution  rose  Napo- 
leon, in  many  respects  the  greatest  figure  of  all  time. 
Neither  Europe  nor  Africa  confined  his  ambition  or 
his  thoughts;  his  eyes  often  turned  toward  America, 
the  soil  of  which  had  been  consecrated  to  France  by 
La  Salle  and  Montcalm.  Napoleon  brought  sufficient 
pressure  to  bear  upon  the  Spanish  monarch  to  compel 
the  retrocession  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  to  France 
in  1800.  The  exact  date  has  been  disputed.  It  was 
a  secret  treaty  of  necessity,  because  England  could 
and  would  have  seized  New  Orleans.  The  truth  came 
out  during  a  suspension  of  hostilities  between  France 
and  England  but  any  defence  of  the  colony  by  Napo- 
leon being  impossible,  Louisiana  was  obviously  in  the 
market  for  sale.  Almost  contemporaneously  with  the 
general  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  that  France  had 
regained  her  former  possession,  a  high-handed  act  of 
inhibition  against  the  traders  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
was  committed.  These  sturdy  pioneers  had  enjoyed 
the  right  to  send  their  goods  to  New  Orleans,  as  "  a 
place  of  deposit,"  whence  they  could  be  shipped  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  It  was  a  great  market.  The 
closing  of  it  meant  dickering  with  the  fur-traders  of 
the  North-west  and  the  Great  Lakes,  men  who  drove 
hard  bargains  and  paid  slowly.  On  the  other  hand,  at 
the  great  port  of  New  Orleans  one  part  of  the  com- 
mercial world  bid  against  the  other.  A  crisis  was 
inevitable. 


Valley  during  the  administrations  of  Presidents  Washington  and 
Adams  will  find  the  subject  elaborately  treated  by  Frederick  Jackson 
Turner,  in  The  American  Historical  Review,  January,  1905. 


90  The    Mississippi 

President  Jefferson  was  prompt  to  comprehend  the 
importance  of  this  arbitrary  act  to  the  pioneers  who 
had  M^on  the  lands  they  occupied  inch  by  inch  from  the 
savages  and  beasts  of  the  forests.  Although  not  to  be 
described  as  a  pioneer  himself,  Jefferson,  as  Governor 
of  Virginia,  had  aided  in  the  formation  of  Kentuck5\ 
While  Secretary  of  State,  he  had  insisted  upon  the 
right  of  navigating  the  ^lississippi  and  had  tried  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  to  that  effect,  vainly,  until  1795;  but 
when  the  French  closed  New  Orleans  as  a  place  of  de- 
posit of  merchandise  in  1802,  Jefferson  showed  the 
energy  of  which  he  w^as  capable. 

Robert  R.  Livingston,  his  Minister  to  France,  was 
directed  to  make  overtures  to  Napoleon.  The  latter 
had  vast  schemes  of  colonisation.  The  pioneers  of  the 
Ohio  and  upper  Mississippi  were  in  a  threatening  mood 
and  wanted  to  descend  the  river  to  take  forcible  pos- 
session of  New  Orleans.  Jefferson,  wishing  to  avert 
war,  which  such  a  filibustering  expedition  would  have 
forced,  sent  James  Monroe,  afterwards  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  France  as  Special  Envoy.  Events 
in  Europe  contributed  to  Jefferson's  success.  ^lonroe 
had  hoped  to  secure  all  of  Louisiana  east  of  the 
Mississippi  for  $2,000,000  which  Congress  had  ap- 
propriated. Instead,  Napoleon  made  a  counter  pro- 
position. He  offered  the  entire  Louisiana  Territory 
for  125,000,000  francs.  This  was  finally  reduced  to 
80,000,000  francs,  about  $16,000,000,  a  fourth  of  which 
was  to  be  paid  to  American  citizens  for  claims  against 
France.  (Thus  were  founded  the  French  Spoliation 
Claims,  about  which  one  hears  to  this  day  in  the 
corridors  and  committee  rooms  of  the  Capitol  at 
Washington.) 


The  Louisiana  Purchase  91 

That  treaty  was  signed  April  30,  1803,  and  on  De- 
cember 29th  of  that  year,  at  noon,  the  French  tri-colour 
was  lowered  from  its  pole  facing  the  official  residence 
in  New  Orleans  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  of  the 
Federal  Union  replaced  it. 

The  "  Louisiana  Purchase,"  including  part  of 
Texas,  was  in  area  twenty-six  times  larger  than  the 
State  of  New  York.  Since  the  acquisition  of  that 
territory  the  following  States,  "  cut  from  the  web  of  a 
splendid  imperial  property,"  have  been  admitted  to  the 
Federal  Union:  in  1812,  Louisiana,  48,720  square 
miles;  in  1821,  Missouri,  69,415;  in  1836,  Arkansas, 
53,850;  in  1845,  Iowa,  56,025;  in  1858,  Minnesota, 
83,365;  in  1861,  Kansas,  82,080;  in  1876,  Colorado, 
103,925, — a  portion  of  this  State  lying  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  was  not  included  in  the  "  Louisiana 
Purchase  "  but  was  secured  by  the  "  Guadalupe  Hi- 
dalgo Treaty,"  which  brought  with  it  Utah,  Arizona, 
etc.;  however,  fully  60,000  square  miles  of  Colorado 
territory  come  from  the  "Purchase"; — in  1889,  North 
and  South  Dakotas,  aggregating  150,932  square  miles; 
in  the  same  year,  Montana,  146,080;  in  1890,  Wyoming, 
97,890;  in  1907,  Oklahoma,  and  what  is  left  of  Indian 
Territory,  equalling  55,000  square  miles, — if  what  was 
ceded  by  Texas  to  the  United  States  on  December  13, 
1850,  be  omitted.  The  acquisition  of  the  Yellowstone 
National  Park,  3575  square  miles,  must  not  be  over- 
looked as  part  of  the  "  Purchase."  Its  area  is  chiefly 
in  Wyoming,  although  a  strip  on  its  western  side  ex- 
tends across  the  Idaho  border  and  to  the  northward 
into  ^lontana.  The  natural  features  of  that  region 
are  so  marvellous  that  when  John  Colter  returned  to 
Saint  Louis  to  tell  about  them,  he  was  ridiculed  and 


92  The  Mississippi 

denounced.  Henry  M.  Stanley  had  the  same  experi- 
ence after  his  return  to  England  from  the  Livingstone 
expedition. 

There  is  no  necessity  to  discuss  the  Oregon  question 
in  this  connection:  much  pleasanter  is  it  to  feel  that 
Oregon  came  to  the  Union  by  right  of  discovery  by 
Captain  Gray,  of  Boston,  who  entered  the  Columbia 
River  in  May,  1791,  supported  by  the  additional  fact 
that  John  Jacob  Astor  established  the  first  permanent 
trading  post  at  Astoria.  The  land  was  not  only 
discovered  but  actually  settled  by  Americans! 

The  United  States  paid  less  than  two  cents  for  each 
hundred  acres  of  land  convej^ed  by  France! 

It  is  usual  to  refer  to  the  purchase  of  Manhattan 
Island  for  $24  by  Peter  Minuit,  acting  for  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company,  as  an  outrageous  bargain,  driven 
by  civilised  men  with  untutored  savages;  but,  by  com- 
parison, the  Indians  of  Manhattan  were  treated  liber- 
ally. Jefferson's  deal  with  Napoleon  was  the  greatest 
real  estate  transaction  ever  made.  Its  consequences 
were  disastrous  to  the  Emperor,  precipitating  the  war 
with  England  and  her  alHes  that  culminated  at  Water- 
loo. Under  Napoleon,  France,  mounted  and  afoot, 
had  faced  the  troops  of  all  Europe;  but  that  secret 
treaty  with  the  American  Republic,  which  only  half  a 
generation  earlier  had  cast  off  the  British  yoke,  threw 
England  into  a  rage  and  cost  Napoleon  his  crown. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Lewis  and  Clark 

WHEN  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory 
had  been  completed,  President  Jefferson  be- 
gan to  feel  anxiety  regarding  the  value  of  the 
acquisition.  He  had  traded  with  Napoleon  "  sight  un- 
seen," except  the  part  embraced  in  the  lower  ^Mississippi 
Valley.  The  great  North-west  was  literally  an  un- 
known land.  The  vastness  of  the  new  possession 
was  not  comprehensible.  And  right  here,  it  may 
be  said  that  one  of  the  most  marvellous  exhibi- 
tions of  our  national  development  is  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  primeval  area  has  been  opened  to 
civilisation. 

In  the  third  year  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Captain 
Meriwether  Lewis  and  Captain  William  Clark,  with 
a  party  of  thirty  men,  pitched  camp  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  where  is  the  present  site  of  Saint 
Louis  and  began  building  three  flat-bottomed  boats. 
They  were  preparing  for  an  epoch-making  voyage  of 
exploration,  nothing  less  arduous  than  the  ascent  of 
the  Missouri  River!  This  trip,  inadequately  as  it  was 
outfitted,  was  the  initiative  of  approximate  knowledge 
of  a  territory  exceeding  five  hundred  thousand  square 
miles  in  extent! 

Saint  Louis,  in  1803,  was  a  small  trading  post  and 

93 


94  The  Mississippi 

its  few  white  citizens  were  indifferent  to  the  fortunes 
of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition;  but  the  young 
leaders  were  exactly  the  men  for  the  undertaking. 
They  were  Virginians,  experienced  woodsmen,  and  had 
seen  service  against  the  Indians.  Lewis  was  four  years 
the  younger  but  was  pre-eminently  the  man  to  com- 
mand. He  was  twenty-nine  and  Clark  thirty-three 
years  of  age.  Lewis  had  been  appointed  Private 
Secretary  to  President  Jefferson  when  the  latter  took 
office  in  1801.  Therefore,  when  on  April  30,  1803, 
Jefferson's  Special  Commissioner,  Monroe,  and  the 
regularly  accredited  Minister  from  the  United  States 
made  the  purchase  from  the  French  nation,  the  arduous 
task  of  examining  and  reporting  upon  the  property 
was  intrusted  to  the  President's  Secretary  and  a  com- 
panion of  the  latter's  selection,  Captain  Clark.  The 
President  gave  to  the  chief  of  this  expedition  elaborate 
instructions  and  the  report  of  that  three  years'  task, 
readily  accessible  in  Washington,  might  serve  as  a  model 
for  all  explorers  since  that  time.  Lewis  was  the  scien- 
tific and  Clark  the  military  director. 

When  the  boats  were  completed  and  their  stores 
aboard,  the  intrepid  men  pulled  twenty  miles  up-stream 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  but  at  this  point,  the 
actual  beginning  of  their  journey,  they  were  stopped 
by  a  Spanish  officer  who  commanded  a  fort  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  two  rivers.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  western  boundary  of  the  United  States  was  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  Spanish  flag  floated  over  all 
territory  to  the  west  of  that  river,  from  the  British 
possessions  on  the  north. 

France  had  ceded  to  Spain,  November  13,  1762, 
"  The  country  and  colony  of  Louisiana  and  the  posts 


Lewis  and  Clark  95 

thereon  depending,"  thereby  parting  with  her  entire 
American  dominions;  but  when  Spain,  on  February  10, 
1763,  ceded  to  England  all  of  her  American  possessions 
east  of  the  Mississippi  except  the  town  of  New  Orleans, 
the  American  Revolution  was  a  foregone  consequence. 
The  result  of  that  war  so  embarrassed  England  in  the 
control  of  Florida  that  she  retroceded  it  to  Spain  in 
1783  and  the  Spanish  flag  again  waved  from  the  east 
coast  of  Florida  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  By  a  secret 
treaty  October  1,  1800,  Spain  transferred  "  the  colon}'- 
or  province  of  Louisiana  back  to  France,  without  re- 
strictions as  to  limits  but  with  her  ancient  boundaries 
as  they  were  when  France,  in  1762,  had  ceded  the 
territory  to  Spain." 

Very  probably  that  Spanish  commander  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri  River  in  the  summer  of  1803 
had  not  heard  of  the  last  two  transfers, — trans- 
ferrals,  namely,  of  Spain  back  to  France  and  the  sale 
by  the  latter  to  the  United  States.  His  name  has  ob- 
scure mention  in  the  Lewis  and  Clark  journal  but  he 
is  lost  to  history.  His  arbitrary  act,  however,  caused 
one  year's  delay  in  the  setting  out  of  the  expedition. 
A  messenger  had  to  be  sent  to  Washington  for  instruc- 
tions and  Lewis  and  Clark  went  into  winter  quarters 
on  the  Illinois  side  to  await  his  return. 

Having  back  of  them  all  the  power  of  the  young 
republic  and  bearing  official  documents  showing  the  de- 
tails of  the  transfer  from  France  to  the  United  States, 
Lewis  and  Clark  started  on  their  voyage  up  the  JNIis- 
souri  River,  JNIay  4,  1804.  There  we  leave  them,  as 
one  might  have  said  farewell  to  Jason  and  the  good 
ship  Argo,  as  she  disappeared  behind  the  Cyanian  rocks 
at  the  entrance  to   the  Bosphorus.     The   extent   and 


96  The  Mississippi 

wealth  of  the  "Purchase"  has  been  dealt  with  in  a 
preceding  chapter. 

Lewis  and  Clark  occupied  two  years,  four  months, 
and  nineteen  days  in  their  weary  journey  from  the 
^Mississippi  River  to  Portland,  Oregon,  and  back.  To- 
day, luxurious  trains  traverse  much  the  same  route  in 
either  direction,  in  three  days.  A  cargo  of  two  thou- 
sand tons  of  tea  from  Yokohama  arrived  at  Tacoma, 
on  Puget  Sound,  recently.  It  was  consigned  to 
Chicago  and  New  York.  Ten  freight  trains  were  re- 
quired to  move  this  cargo  over  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  part  of  which  route  was  traversed  by  Lewis 
and  Clark. 

In  little  more  than  half  a  century  after  Lewis  and 
Clark  had  pushed  their  explorations  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, the  great  West  was  won!  This  is  in  contrast 
to  the  rate  of  progress  as  told  in  all  stories  of  his- 
tory. Centuries  elapsed  during  the  advancement  from 
Assyria  to  Egypt,  Egypt  to  Greece,  Greece  to  Rome, 
and  the  progress  across  the  Alps  to  north-western 
Europe.  The  Trojan  war  gave  to  literature  the 
Iliad,  the  Odyssey,  and  the  Mneid;  Cyrus's  inva- 
sion of  Asia  Minor,  the  Anabasis;  the  conquest  of 
Europe,  after  the  fall  of  Rome,  The  Song  of  Bo- 
land,  The  Nibelungen  Lied,  Romance  of  the  Bose, 
The  Cid,  Beowulf, — the  hero  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  epic 
poem  the  scenes  of  which  are  laid  in  Denmark  and 
Sweden  (eighth  century), — the  Icelandic  tales  of  ISIag- 
nussen  (1663),  the  Heimskringla, — the  most  import- 
ant prose  work  in  old  Norse  hterature  (1178),  written 
by  the  Icelander  Snorri  Sturluson, — Orlando  Furioso, 
a  metrical  romance  of  forty  cantos  by  the  Itahan  poet 
Ariosto    (1515),  and  Jerusalem  Delivered  by  Tasso. 


Lewis  and  Clark  97 

Lewis  and  Clark  gave  to  English  literature  Irving's 
Astoria  and  Captain  Bonneville,  Parkman's  Histories, 
Theodore  Winthrop's  John  Brent,  Bret  Harte's  Tales, 
Joaquin  Miller's  verses.  That  is  what  a  peaceful  jour- 
ney did  for  American  literature. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacomo  G.  Beltrami 

LIEUTENANT  ZEBULON  M.  PIKE  was  di- 
rected by  the  government  to  proceed  up  the 
Mississippi, — as  Lewis  and  Clark  had  previously 
been  ordered  to  explore  the  Missouri, — to  its  source. 
He  set  out  from  the  present  site  of  Saint  Louis  on 
August  9, 1805,  at  the  head  of  twenty  men  in  keel  boats. 
After  many  hardships,  the  expedition  went  into  winter 
camp  on  November  1st,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river 
at  a  point  in  what  is  now  Morrison  County,  INIinnesota. 
After  erecting  a  blockhouse,  Lieutenant  Pike  started 
on  December  10th  on  a  sledge  journey.  He  camped 
on  Christmas  day  a  few  miles  above  the  present  site  of 
Brainerd.  He  reached  the  mouth  of  Pine  River  De- 
cember 31st  and  three  days  later  discovered  an  Indian 
village  over  which  a  British  flag  was  floating.  A  fire 
occurred  in  the  camp  of  the  expedition  on  the  night  of 
January  4th  that  destroyed  the  tents  and  an  explosion 
of  the  ammunition  was  narrowly  averted.  Exhausted, 
the  detachment  reached  Leech  Lake  February  1st,  on 
snow-shoes,  dragging  their  supplies  on  bark  toboggans. 
In  his  report.  Lieutenant  Pike  commits  himself  thus: 
"  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  my  feelings  on  the 
accomplishment  of  my  voyage,  for  this  is  the  main 
source  of  the  Mississippi."  When,  on  February  12th, 
he  had  reached  Red  Cedar  Lake,  now  known  as  Lake 

98 


Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacoino  C.  Beltrami    99 

Cass,  he  added :  "  This  lake  may  be  called  the  upper 
source  of  the  Mississippi  River."  The  natives,  seeing 
that  Pike's  party  was  not  composed  of  French  or  Eng- 
lishmen, described  his  followers  as  "  white  Indians." 
After  several  pow-wows,  at  which  the  aborigines  were 
made  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  a  new  and  veiy 
different  "  Great  Father "  ruled  over  them,  Pike  be- 
gan his  return  march  to  the  blockhouse,  where  he 
arrived  in  March,  1806.  When  the  river  opened 
in  the  spring,  the  party  returned  to  Saint  Louis, 
aften  an  absence  of  eight  months  and  twenty-two 
days. 

Lieutenant  Pike  wrote  his  name  large  upon  the  early 
history  of  this  countiy.  He  was  only  twenty-six  years 
of  age  when  he  made  the  terrible  mid-winter  trip 
to  Lake  Cass.  He  was  mortally  wounded  during  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain,  while  leading  an  Ameri^ 
can  attack  upon  York  (now  Toronto).  He  had  then 
attained  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four  years.  As  J.  V.  Brower  is  careful  to  point 
out,  Pike's  information  was  "  entirely  hearsay  and  he 
accepted  the  stories  told  him  about  the  Turtle  Lake 
source."  He  did  not  do  any  actual  exploring;  the  lakes 
and  rivers  were  frozen,  rendering  such  work  impossible. 
That  his  trip  was  considered  remarkable  at  the  time  is 
shown  by  the  place  accorded  to  it  in  contemporaneous 
literature.  He  was  deceived,  just  as  Beltrami  was 
seventeen  years  later. 

General  Lewis  Cass  was  appointed  Governor  of  the 
Territory  of  Michigan  in  October,  1813,  and  held  the 
post  for  eighteen  years.  As  ex-ofpcio  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affairs  in  his  territory,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  John  C.  Callioun,  Secretary  of  War,  on  November 


100  The  Mississippi 

18,  1819,  proposing  an  exploring  expedition  through 
Lake  Superior  and  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi. 
Secretary  Calhoun  endorsed  the  suggestion  and  ordered 
the  equipment  of  the  expedition.  The  party  set  out 
from  Detroit,  May  24,  1820,  accompanied  by  a  detach- 
ment of  troops.  Here  we  first  hear  of  Henry  R. 
Schoolcraft,  who  went  along  as  mineralogist.  Capt. 
D.  B.  Douglas  was  attached  as  topographer  and  as- 
tronomer and  a  few  Indian  hunters  were  added.  At  the 
end  of  the  forty-third  day,  over  the  route  travelled  by 
missionaries  and  coureurs  de  hois  for  a  century  and  a 
half.  Governor  Cass  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Louis  River,  near  the  present  site  of  Duluth.  Sandy 
Lake  trading  post,  on  the  Mississippi,  was  reached  on 
July  15th.  As  J.  V.  Brower  remarks,  "  Lieut.  Pike 
had  preceded  Cass  at  this  place  by  fourteen  years 
and  it  is  probable  that  Le  Sueur  had  ascended  the 
JNIississippi  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  Sandy  Lake  River." 
Leaving  his  principal  force  in  camp  at  this  point.  Gov- 
ernor Cass  proceeded  with  two  canoes,  bearing  Mr. 
Schoolcraft,  Major  Forsyth,  Captain  Douglas,  Dr. 
Wolcott,  and  Lieutenant  Mackay,  "  to  explore  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi." 

Starting  from  Sandy  Lake  on  July  17th,  Red  Cedar 
Lake  was  attained  on  the  21st.  INIr.  Schoolcraft  at 
once  renamed  the  body  of  water  Cass  Lake,  in  honour 
of  the  chief  of  the  expedition,  and  so  it  is  known  to 
this  day.  From  Chippewas,  Cass  learned  that  "  the 
source  of  the  river  was  Lac  La  Biclie,  about  fifty  miles 
west-north-west  of  Red  Cedar  Lake."  Turtle  River,  a 
considerable  stream,  entered  the  lake  from  the  north. 
Remarkable  as  it  appears,  nobody  undertook  to  find  the 
source  of  Turtle  River  or  to  circumnavigate  the  large, 


Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacomo  C.  Beltrami     loi 

shallow  lake  called  after  Governor  Cass,  for  other  in- 
lets. Had  this  been  done,  the  entrance  of  the  main 
stream,  leading  to  the  Hauteurs  des  Terres,  would  have 
been  found  by  Cass  in  1820.  The  weather  was  pro- 
pitious, the  expedition  was  well  equipped,  but,  like 
Pike,  whose  opportunities  were  limited  by  snow  and 
ice,  the  untrustworthy  statements  of  the  natives  were 
accepted  as  facts. 

Governor  Cass  began  his  return  journey  on  July 
21,  1820,  "  after  a  stay  of  a  few  hours  "  at  Cass  Lake! 

Taking  up  their  detachment  at  Sandy  Lake,  the 
party  descended  to  St.  Anthony  Fall,  traversed  Lake 
Pepin  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  then  ascended  the  Wis- 
consin, portaged  to  the  Fox  River,  and  landed  in  Green 
Bay,  as  many  had  done  before  them.  Governor  Cass 
arrived  at  Detroit,  September  15,  1820,  having  crossed 
the  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan  in  the  saddle.  His 
entire  trip  occupied  one  hundred  and  fifteen  days.  It 
gave  to  him  international  fame  and  largely  contributed 
to  obtain  for  him  the  nomination  as  Democratic  candi- 
date for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  twenty- 
eight  years  afterwards.  Its  fame  endured  more  than 
a  quarter  century. 

The  only  real  importance  that  attaches  to  the  Cass 
expedition  is  that  it  pointed  the  way  for  Henry  R. 
Schoolcraft,  who,  twelve  years  later,  followed  the  same 
route,  camped  where  the  Cass  party  had  camped,  and 
imitated  its  movements  in  every  respect  except  coming 
home  without  investigating  the  shore  line  of  Cass  Lake. 
The  map  resulting  froni  the  Cass  expedition,  which 
was  drawn  by  Schoolcraft,  is  highly  valuable,  because 
it  establishes  the  existence,  although  in  a  wrong  direc- 
tion, of  Lac  La  Biche,  at  a  point  independent  of  Turtle 


I02 


The  Mississippi 


River.     Of  course  it  should  have  been  south-west  instead 
of  north-west  of  Cass  Lake.     Here  is  the  map: 

The  next  visitor  of  record  to  Lake  Cass,  Giacomo 
Constantino  Beltrami,  did  not  receive  during  his  life- 


JieS^  L 


8*uyee.&    y    Uc  Miss  tssK^hC 
CassincL, 


l,ec6k  X> 


>/^/Kr  ^jPaAtefaiHO. 


Section  of  a  map  showing  the  track  pursued  by  the 

Expedition  under  Governor  Cass  in  1820 

Drawn  by  Henry  R.  Schoolcraft 

time  proper  recognition  of  his  efforts  to  locate  the 
source  of  the  Mississippi.  This  was  largely  due  to  the 
jealousy  of  Major  Long,  U.  S.  A.      No  less  an  au- 


Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacomo  C.  Beltrami    103 

thority  than  Jean  N.  Nicollet  i)leads  the  cause  of  Bel- 
trami, who  was  born  at  Bergamo,  Italy,  in  1779,  his 
father  being  a  customs  official  of  the  Venetian  Republic. 
After  a  superior  education,  he  entered  the  army  but 
soon  began  the  practice  of  law  in  the  courts  at  Mace- 


Jlatn.  Ji 


i¥ source  Of  /JtiMhsissnt 


Leech. 


Extract  from  Beltrami's  Chart, 


rata.  We  hear  of  him  in  Florence  about  1812,  where 
he  gained  powerful  social  alliances  that  secured  to  him 
the  Presidency  of  the  Court  of  Forli.  He  was  ambi- 
tious and  probably  became  enmeshed  in  some  political 
intrigue,  because  he  was  banished  in  1821.  He  came 
to  America,  imbued  with  a  desire  for  exploration  and 
discovery.  He  made  his  way  to  Saint  Louis  and  thence 
to  Fort  Snelling.      From  this  place,  he  addressed  a 


I04  The  Mississippi 

letter  to  his  most  influential  social  sponsor  in  Florence, 
Madame  La  Comtesse  Compagnoni,  born  Passeri  and 
popularly  known  as  "  Countess  of  Albany."  This 
letter  would  not  appear  to  have  brought  financial  as- 
sistance in  time  to  have  aided  him  in  accompanying 
Major  Long,  who  had  been  commissioned  to  conduct 
an  expedition  up  the  JNIinnesota  River  and  down  the 
Red  River  of  the  North  to  Pembina.  Beltrami  said 
in  his  journal:  "My  first  intention,  that  of  going  in 
search  of  the  real  sources  of  the  INIississippi,  was  al- 
ways before  my  eyes."  When  Long  and  Beltrami 
quarrelled,  the  latter  engaged  two  Chippewas  and  set 
out  for  Red  Lake.  He  was  soon  deserted  by  his  guides 
and  he  reached  Red  Lake  alone,  after  many  hardships. 
Securing  a  guide  and  interpreter,  Beltrami  left  Red 
Lake,  August  26,  1823,  and  two  days  later  reached  a 
place  that  he  described  as  "  the  highest  land  of  North 
America."  There  he  found  a  deep  lake,  which  he 
named  "  Julia  "  after  his  patroness.  He  did  not  stop 
at  that,  but  without  investigating  whether  or  not  the 
lake  had  an  outlet,  announced  it  "  the  Julian  source  of 
the  Mississippi " !  As  Pike  and  Cass  had  done,  he 
accepted  statements  of  the  savages.  One  very  singular 
thing  about  Beltrami's  journal  is  that  he  distinctly  says 
"  this  Julia  Lake  is  formed  in  the  shape  of  a  heart,  and 
it  may  be  truly  said  to  speak  of  the  very  soul."  Such 
is  the  form  of  Itasca!  It  must  also  be  admitted,  in 
Beltrami's  behalf,  that  his  guide  described  to  him  Lac 
La  Biche  and  he  charted  it  as  "Doe  Lake,  West  source 
of  the  Mississippi."  Three  quarters  of  a  century's  dis- 
cussion followed  the  claims  of  Beltrami.  His  chart  is 
worthy  of  a  place  in  all  volumes  dealing  with  this  sub- 
ject.    Its  similarities  to  that  of  Lieutenant  Pike  will 


Zebulon  M.  Pike  to  Giacomo  C.  Beltrami    105 

be  observed.  Here  is  a  portion  of  his  map  of  the  re- 
gion north-west  of  Lake  Superior,  setting  forth  his 
claims. 

Beltrami  descended  Turtle  River  to  Lake  Cass,  as 
Thompson  had  done,  twenty-six  years  earlier,  and  ul- 
timately made  his  way  down  the  Mississippi  to  New 
Orleans.  There  he  published,  in  1824,  La  Decouverte 
des  Sources  du  Mississippi.  From  New  Orleans,  he 
went  to  Mexico,  and  claimed  to  have  crossed  the  pen- 
insula to  the  Pacific  coast  before  he  returned  to  London 
in  1827.  In  that  city,  his  Pilgrimage  in  Europe 
and  America  appeared  in  two  volumes,  from  which 
Chateaubriand  and  other  French  writers  drew  copi- 
ously. In  the  museum  of  his  native  city,  Bergamo, 
Beltrami  deposited  the  trophies  of  his  explorations  in 
northern  Minnesota  and  there  they  may  be  seen  to  this 
day.  A  county  in  Minnesota  has  been  named  in  his 
honour. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Schoolcraft  Expedition 

HENRY  R.  SCHOOLCRAFT  organised  his 
own  expedition  to  Cass,  or  Red  Cedar,  Lake  at 
St.  Mary's,  on  Lake  Superior,  in  the  spring  of 
1832.  It  was  not  intended,  primarily,  for  exploration, 
but  to  effect  a  settlement  of  existing  hostilities  between 
the  Sioux  (See-oo)  and  Chippewas.  Lieutenant  Allen, 
U.  S.  A.,  with  a  battahon  of  infantry,  accompanied 
Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  Schoolcraft;  Dr. 
Douglas  Houghton  went  along  as  botanist  and  Rev. 
W.  T.  Boutwell  was  a  guest.  George  Johnstone  acted 
as  interpreter.  There  were  thirty  men,  in  all.  It  was 
the  year  of  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

As  the  pretext  for  the  Schoolcraft  expedition  never 
was  made  plain  in  the  reports  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft  him- 
self or  of  Lieutenant  Allen,  I  wrote  to  Rev.  W.  T. 
Boutwell,  in  June  of  1880,  asking  him  to  tell  me  what 
he  knew  about  the  matter.  His  generous  response, 
made  at  the  sacrifice  of  much  effort,  deserves  to  be 
given  in  full  as  final  words  from  the  last  survivor  of 
a  historic  episode.  It  bears  date  of  June  23,  1880,  and 
is  as  follows: 

Notliing  but  the  infirmities  of  age  (seventy-seven)  has  pre- 
vented an  earlier  reply.  You  ask  for  incidents  in  relation  to 
Mr.  Schoolcraft's  expedition  to  Itasca  in  1S,'^2.  To  exi)lain 
the  purpose  of  the  trip,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  as  far  as 

io6 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition  107 

1805,  when  Lieutenant  Pike  made  his  expedition  under  direc- 
tion of  our  Government  and,  at  that  early  day,  reached  Ijcech 
Lake  and  pronounced  it  the  source  of  the  Mississippi.  He 
found  the  country  occupied  by  British  [traders]  and  under 
English  influence.  The  Indian  chiefs  were  flaunting  English 
flags  and  displaying  English  medals.  A  brief  extract  from 
a  letter,  addressed  to  Hugh  McGillis,  one  of  the  traders,  will 
explain  the  cause  of  his  (Pike's)  expedition:  "You  will  give 
immediate  instructions  to  all  posts  in  the  territory  under  your 
direction  that  at  no  times  or  on  no  pretence  whatever  are 
they  to  hoist,  or  suffer  to  be  hoisted,  the  English  flag.  That, 
on  no  occasion,  will  you  present  a  flag  or  a  medal  to  an  In- 
dian, or  hold  counsel  with  any  of  them  on  political  subjects." 

Nearly  thirty  years  later  (1831),  wiien  I  came  to  this 
country,  the  old  English  traders  had  given  place  to  a  new 
class  of  men.  Most  of  them  were  Americans,  such  as  Lyman 
M.  Warren,  Charles  H.  Oaks,  John  P'airbanks,  Allen  Morri- 
son, and  W.  Holiday.  The  Am.  F.  Co.'s  depot  was  at  Macki- 
naw, in  charge  of  Robert  Stuart.  Ex-Governor  Sibley  was  at 
that  time  a  clerk  in  the  Company's  office. 

Personal  influence  has  a  long  life, — as  some  say,  it  never 
dies.  Although  many  of  the  early  English  traders  had  long 
since  died,  their  influence  had  become  enduring  by  presents 
of  ammunition,  goods,  flags,  tobacco,  and  medals  from  the 
then  traders  at  all  the  frontier  posts.  The  chiefs  and  braves 
visited  these  posts  every  summer  and  there  received  large 
presents.  To  counteract  this  influence  was  one  of  the  objects 
contemplated  by  the  United  States  Government  in  despatching 
Mr.  Schoolcraft  upon  his  mission  to  Cass  Lake.  The  chief  of 
every  band  of  any  note  that  we  visited  displayed  the  English 
flag  and  English  medals;  but  they  promptly  exchanged  them 
for  United  States  flags  and  medals  when  Mr.  Schoolcraft  made 
such  proposition  to  them.  ]]ach  band  received  a  present  of 
Indian  goods,  ammunition,  and  tobacco;  they  were  civil  and 
respectful  in  their  responses  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  coun- 
selled them  to  abandon  the  war  path  and  to  be  at  peace  with 
their  old  enemies,  the  Sioux,  until  we  reached  Leech  Lake. 
Flat-Mouth's  band,  at  that  place,  numbered  seven  hundred, 
besides  a  band  of  three  hundred   on    [word  undecipherable] 


io8  The  Mississippi 

island.  Mr.  Schoolcraft  made  to  them  a  large  and  valuable 
present  of  powder,  shot,  ball,  Indian  goods,  medals,  and  flags 
in  exchange  for  English  flags  and  medals.  After  Mr.  School- 
craft had  addressed  the  Indians,  as  he  had  done  on  other 
occasions,  old  Flat-Mouth  rose  and  replied :  "  I  suppose  our 
Father  will  be  displeased  if  I  do  not  speak.  We  are  very 
poor,  and  when  we  heard  you  were  coming  to  visit  your  child- 
ren we  were  in  hopes  you  would  pity  us  and  bring  us  some- 
thing to  make  our  hearts  glad."  Pointing  to  a  pile  of  the 
richest  Indian  goods  embraced  in  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  gifts  and 
amounting  in  value  to  several  hundred  dollars,  he  continued: 
"  The  *  Big  Hats,' " — by  which  he  meant  to  designate  the 
English, — "  are  more  generous  to  us  than  that !  I  would  have 
been  on  my  way  to  visit  them  had  I  not  heard  you  were 
coming.  You  tell  us  to  abandon  the  war  path!  You  would 
have  us  sit  still  while  our  enemies  kill  our  young  men?  The 
words  of  '  the  Long-Knives,' " — meaning  the  Americans — 
"  have  been  like  the  wind  that  shakes  the  trees  for  a  moment 
and  is  gone.  You  promised  us  that  if  we  sat  still  and  our 
enemies  came  and  killed  our  children  you  would  punish  them ; 
but  you  have  not  kept  your  promises  and  have  restrained  us 
from  punishing  our  enemies." 

During  this  address,  Flat-Mouth  had  held  his  blanket  about 
his  body  with  one  hand,  but  at  its  conclusion,  he  allowed  the 
blanket  to  fall  from  his  shoulders  to  his  feet  and  stood  before 
us  naked,  except  a  breech  cloth.  Addressing  Mr.  Schoolcraft, 
the  chief  continued :  "  I  will  not  hide  the  truth  from  you, 
Father.  We  have  just  returned  from  war,  in  which  we  were 
successful  against  our  old  enemy.  I  tell  you,  further,  that 
if  my  people  go  on  the  war  path  and  I  do  not  lead  I  will 
not  be  slow  to  follow."  Every  member  of  the  speaker's  band 
grunted  approbation.  Here  we  saw  the  true  feelings  of  all 
the  border  bands.  They  were  more  warmly  attached  to  their 
long-while  English  friends  than  to  the  Americans. 

The  Schoolcraft  expedition  reached  the  Mississippi 
from  Lake  Superior  by  ascending  the  St.  Louis 
River  and  portaging  into  Sandy  I^ake  River,  thence 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition  109 

descending  it  to  Libby's  trading  post,  at  its  mouth, — 
where  the  main  stream  was  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
feet  wide,  according  to  Lieutenant  Allen's  measure- 
ment. Turning  northward,  the  party  ascended  the  big 
river  through  the  Thundering  Rapids, — now  called 
Grand  Rapids, — to  Pokegama  Fall;  thence  through 
the  Great  Savannah,  crossed  Lake  Winnebagoshish,  and 
entered  Lake  Cass,  the  ultimate  point  of  previous  offi- 
cial exploration.     Camp  was  made  on  Grand  Island. 

In  the  first  week  of  July,  1832,  Schoolcraft  started 
across  Cass  Lake  to  the  westward  to  find  the  entrance 
of  a  large  stream  that  Yellow  Head,  the  principal  chief 
of  the  lake  tribe,  assured  him  was  the  continuation  of 
the  Mississippi.  His  party  consisted  of  five  small 
canoes,  carrying  three  men  each,  with  stores  for  the 
voyage.  The  remainder  of  the  party  was  left  in  camp 
on  Grand  Island. 

From  the  western  end  of  Cass  Lake,  the  ascent  of 
the  river  was  resumed.  Forty  miles  of  paddling 
brought  Schoolcraft  to  the  pretty  lake  that  has  nearly 
retained  its  Chippewa  name,  Pa-mid- ji-gum-aug,  or 
Cross-water  Lake.  The  Mississippi  merely  flows 
through  the  southern  end  of  Pemidji  Lake,  which  is 
very  nearly  cut  in  two  by  sharp  promontories  that 
approach  from  the  east  and  west.  Schoolcraft  named 
the  southern  part  of  this  lake  after  Washington  Irving, 
but  the  name  has  not  been  retained. 

After  leaving  Lake  Pemidji,  the  course  up-stream 
soon  became  almost  due  south.  Five  miles  farther,  the 
ultimate  forks  of  the  river  were  encountered,  the  west- 
ern branch  being  the  larger.  The  guide  recommended 
the  eastern  branch  as  easier  of  ascent.  Schoolcraft 
named  it  "  Plantagenet."     It  expanded  in  two  places 


no 


The  Mississippi 


into  small  lakes,  which  were  called  jNIarquette  and  La 
Salle,  in  the  order  of  their  discovery.  Late  in  the  day, 
a  larger  lake,  with  a  fine  evergreen  forest  upon  its 
southern  side,  was  entered.  The  following  day,  rapids 
and  falls  were  met.  A  portage  was  made  over  a  ridge, 
through  a  region  of  Alpine  plants.  Small  pines,  of 
the  grey  species,  cedar,  and  spruce  were  abundant,  and 
the  borders  of  the  river  were  overhung  with  grey  wil- 
lows. A  lake  formed  the  ultimate  reservoir  of  this 
branch  of  the  river,  and  from  this  lake  a  crossing  was 
to  be  made  to  the  headwaters  of  the  western  or  main 
branch  of  the  Mississippi. 

This  portage  of  six  miles  was  made  with  several 
rests.  Reaching  the  brow  of  a  ridge,  the  bright  gleams 
of  sunshine  upon  a  lake  burst  into  view.  It  was  the 
goal  of  the  explorer's  hopes!  The  five  canoes  were 
soon  in  the  water  and  the  party  embarked.  We  now 
quote  Schoolcraft's  description: 

This  was  the  13th  of  July,  1832,  being  three  hundred  and 
five  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
by  Narvaez,  and  two  hundred  and  nineteen  years  after  the 
actual  discovery  of  its  interior  channel  by  Hernando  de  Soto. 
It  was  a  calm  and  bright  day.  Itasca  Lake,  as  we  named  it, 
is  about  five  miles  long.i  We  found  the  outlet  quite  a  river, 
with  a  swift  current.  We  were  two  days  and  nights  in  its 
descent  [i.  e.,  to  Cass  Lake].  There  is  a  cascade,  a  few  miles 
below  the  lake  (Itasca)  called  Ka-bi-ka,  which  we  ran.  We 
found  this  stream  the  larger  branch,  and  about  one-third  longer 
than  the  Plantagenet  fork. 

The  most  cursory  examination  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft's 

1  Commissioner  J.  V.  Brower  fixes  the  geographical  position  of 
Schoolcraft  Island,  north  latitude  47°  13'  10",  longitude  west  from 
G.,  95°  12'. 


Kecent  View   at    Soiidicasteni    Kxtrciiiily 

the   Point   a(r(»ss  llic   Lake  ai    wlii( 

Kcaclu'd  it,  in   is:*,2. 


li   S(Ii<M)I(i-arL 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition 


III 


map,  as  found  in  his  report,  shows  that  he  did  not 
enter  the  west  arm  of  Itasca  Lake.  As  a  "  sketch 
map  "  it  is  about  as  inaccurate  as  a  map  could  be  made. 
In  the  drawing,  B  indicates  the  point  of  entrance  to 
the  lake,  C  the  island  upon  which  the  party  stopped, 
and  A  the  outlet  of  the  lake. 

The  truth  about  the  naming  of  Schoolcraft's  lake 
was  brought  out  in  1872,  as  a  direct  result  of  a  visit 


Schoolcraft's  map  of  Itasca  Lake,  1832 

to  the  region  made  by  the  writer  of  this  volume.  In 
a  letter  to  the  New  York  Herald  the  statement  was 
publicly  made  by  him  that  Schoolcraft  had  coined  the 
name  I-tas-ca  from  two  Latin  nouns,  supplied  by  the 
Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell, —  "  Veritas  caput," — bj^  eliminat- 
ing the  first  three  letters  of  the  first  word  and  the  last 
syllable  of  the  second  word.  It  became  a  matter  of 
discussion  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Eight  years 
later,  the  author  of  this  book  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Boutwell 
and  received  the  following  reply: 

Dear  Mr.  Chambers  :     As  yon  say,  it  was  in  1872  that  in- 
quiry was  raised  regarding  the  origin  of  the  word  "  Itasca." 


L(t/lce  Plan  lia.oenet' 


Schoolcraft  / 


Sources  of  the  Mississippi  River.     Drawn  to  illustrate 
Schoolcraft's  journey  to  Itasca  Lake,  1832 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition  113 

The  Secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  knowing; 
I  had  accompanied  the  Schoolcraft  expedition,  addressed  a 
note  to  me  with  the  request  that  if  I  had  any  knowledge  re- 
garding the  origin  of  the  name  I  would  favour  him  with  a 
reply.  I  gave  to  him  the  time,  place,  and  circumstances  under 
which  I  first  heard  the  word  uttered  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft.  Here 
are  the  facts: 

As  we  were  coasting  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior 
one  beautiful  morning,  the  lake  as  calm  and  smooth  as  a 
mirror,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  turned  to  me  with  this  question: 
"  Mr.  Boutwell,  can  you  give  to  me  a  word  in  Greek  or  Latin 
that  will  express  ^  true  head'  or  'source'?" 

After  a  moment's  reflection,  I  replied,  "  I  cannot ;  but  I 
can  give  you  two  words."  I  gave  to  him  ''  Veritas  caput."  He 
w^rote  out  the  two  words  and,  shortly  after,  turning  to  me, 
said,  with  animation: 

"  I  have  it ! "  Then  and  there,  I  first  heard  the  word 
"  I-tas-ca." 

With  much  esteem,  yours, 

W.  T.  Boutwell. 

Stillwater,  July  27,  1880. 

Of  course,  JNlr.  Boutwell  should  have  given  to 
Schoolcraft  the  words  "  ve-rum  ca-put,"  the  adjective 
agreeing  with  the  gender  of  the  noun.  From  those 
words,  the  name  "  Rum-ca  "  might  have  heen  framed: 
it  would  have  had  a  *'  true "  Chippewa  ring,  albeit 
suggestive  of  "  fire-water."  ^ 

1  In  the  entire  range  of  history,  sacred  and  profane,  only  one 
episode  exists  as  curious  and  interesting  as  this  one.  It  is  said  a 
Jewish  maiden,  pitying  the  sufferings  of  the  Saviour  staggering  under 
the  weight  of  His  cross  on  the  road  to  Calvary,  handed  to  Him  her 
handkerchief.  Jesus  wiped  His  brow,  returned  the  dainty  linen  to 
its  owner,  and  pursued  His  painful  journey.  A  perfect  likeness  of 
the  Christ  was  upon  the  handkerchief!  The  precious  article  was 
called  vera  iconica  (true  likeness) ,  and  that  gentle  Jewess  has  been 
known  ever  since  that  dreadful  day  as  Sainte  Veronica  (Ver-a  ic- 
onica). One  of  these  handkei'chiefs  is  preserved  in  St.  Peter's, 
Rome:  another  is  shown  at  Milan. — J.  C. 


114  The  Mississippi 

Dr.  Douglas  Houghton,  who  accompanied  the 
Schoolcraft  expedition,  kept  a  journal  of  the  trip  which 
was  not  published  until  1882,  when  it  appeared  in  the 
Detroit  Post  and  Tribune.  It  explains  several  obscure 
points  in  the  narratives  of  Schoolcraft  and  Allen. 
Most  startling  is  its  disclosure  of  the  fact  that  the  party 
was  at  Itasca  only  three  and  one  half  hours  of  one 
afternoon.  Having  described  the  voyage  to  Lake  Cass, 
where  the  party  arrived  on  July  10,  1832,  the  Houghton 
narrative  continues: 

Our  party  was  reorganised  for  a  further  prosecution  of  the 
exploration.  Indians  and  voyageurs  declared  that  the  Mis- 
sissippi had  its  origin  in  a  lake  called  La  Biche,  sixty  miles 
in  a  north-westerly  direction :  actually  nothing  was  known  of 
the  situation  above  Cass  Lake.  Lieut.  J.  Allen  announced 
that  he  could  not  prevail  upon  his  men  to  accompany  us 
farther.  Our  party,  as  reorganised,  numbered  sixteen  men  :  H. 
R.  Schoolcraft,  Lieut.  Allen,  Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell,  George 
Johnson,  myself,  and  eleven  voyageurs  and  natives. 

At  five  o'clock  a.m.  (ATednesday,  July  11th),  Schoolcraft, 
Allen,  Boutwell,  Johnson  [sic],  and  myself  embarked.  Each 
of  us  occupied  a  separate  canoe,  paddled  by  one  voyageur  and 
one  Chippewa.  We  ascended  the  river  beyond  Lake  Cass  to 
a  body  of  water  called  by  the  voyageurs  Lac  Trovers.  Pro- 
ceeding, we  passed  a  series  of  small  lakes  and  encamped  at  a 
point  of  woods. 

July  12th,  Thursday,  we  embarked  at  5  a.m.^  and  continued 
to  ascend  the  stream  until  4  p.m.,  when  the  guides  advised  a 
portage,  owning  to  the  tortuous  character  of  the  river.  [This 
is  the  Eastern,  or  Plantagenet,  branch  of  the  Mississippi,  be  it 
remembered. — J.  C]  We  portaged  two  miles  across  country, 
soil  of  diluvial  character,  containing  boulders  of  trap  rock, 
syenite,  and  quartz.  The  course  of  the  stream  had  been  south- 
erly.    We  camped  on  again  reaching  the  insignificant  creek. 

July  13th,  Friday. — The  sun  had  scarcely  arisen  when  we 
embarked  and  ascended  the  winding  brook  at  which  we  had 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition  115 

encamped  the  evening  before,  for  twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  when 
we  arrived  at  an  expansion  of  water  one  or  two  miles  in 
length,  called  by  the  guides  Ossowa  Lake.  Its  waters  were 
blackish  and  bordered  with  aquatic  plants.  This  lake  receives 
two  small  brooks,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  source  of  this 
branch  of  the  Mississippi.  The  head  of  this  lake  is  one  hund- 
red and  twenty  miles  from  the  forks.  The  chief,  Yellow  Head, 
pushed  his  canoe  through  the  weeds  of  the  shore  and  soon  an- 
nounced his  discovery  of  the  portage  which  would  lead  to  Lac 
La  Biclie  of  the  French.  Having  reached  the  source  of  this 
branch  of  the  great  river,  it  may  be  noted  that  its  existence 
as  a  separate  fork  of  the  Mississippi  lias  been  hitherto  unknown 
in  our  maps.  Immediately  after  landing  we  followed  the  por- 
tage in  a  westerly  direction,  wading  for  some  distance  before 
the  soil  became  firm.  The  course  led  through  a  tamarack 
swamp  for  about  two  miles.  Thirteen  rests  were  deemed  the 
length  of  the  portage.  Having  passed  over,  or  rather  through, 
the  marshes,  we  arrived  at  a  series  of  sandy  ridges,  supporting 
a  growth  of  grey  pine  covered  with  lichen.  These  ridges 
separate  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries 
from  those  of  Red  River.  Having  passed  over  these  ridges 
near  four  miles,  making  in  all  six  miles  of  portage,  we  arrived 
at  Lake  Itasca,  near  its  head.  This  lake  is  considered  the 
true  source  of  the  Mississippi,  and  our  party  was  the  first 
which  had  ever  reached  it.  The  lake  is  small  and  irregular, 
having  many  bays  proportionately  deep.  It  is  eight  miles  in 
length,  and  has  an  average  width  of  three  fourths  of  a  mile. 
The  shore  rises  gradually  to  a  considerable  height  from  the 
water,  but  the  soil  is  of  the  same  barren,  sandy  kind  already 
mentioned.  The  principal  timber  is  grey  and  yellow  pine  and 
aspen.  Near  the  foot  of  the  lake  is  a  snmll  island,  upon  which 
we  landed,  and  Mr.  Schoolcraft  ordered  the  American  flag  to 
be  hoisted,  and  it  was  so  secured  as  to  remain  a  long  time. 
This  was  the  first  flag  ever  hoisted  at  the  head  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River. 

We  arrived  at  the  lake  at  alout  one  o'clock  p.m.^  and  hav- 
ing coasted  through  it  and  made  some  examinations,  our  sole 
ohject  of  visiting  the  Mississippi  ivas  accomplished,  and,  at 


ii6  The  Mississippi 

4.30,  we  commenced  descending  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  which 
was  a  mere  Irook,  ahont  ten  feet  in  icidth. 

A  final  word  about  Beltrami.  JNIr.  Schoolcraft  and 
Lieutenant  Allen  have  only  words  of  sarcasm  and  dis- 
respect for  the  adventurous  Italian.  One  is  puzzled, 
after  comparing  their  reports,  to  account  for  their 
bitterness  exce^Dt  upon  the  meanest  of  motives, — 
jealousy  at  finding  their  work  anticipated.  In  Bel- 
trami's narrative,^  published  ten  years  before  Allen's 
report,^  he  fixes  "  the  source  of  the  great  river  in  Lake 
Moscos-Saguaiguen."  O-mush-kos  Saw-gaw-see-gum 
is  clearly  the  same  lake;  and,  if  they  are  not  the  same 
words,  the  French  name,  which  Beltrami  gives,  would 
settle  the  identity  of  the  lake.  Beltrami  adds,  "  It  is 
also  known  as  Lac  La  Biche,  the  first  one  above  Lac 
Travers''  (Pemidji  Lake).^  Beltrami  further  antici- 
pates both  of  his  critics,  because  he  states  that  "  the 
large  river  flowing  into  Lac  de  la  Cedre  Rou^e  [Cass] 
on  the  west  is  the  continuation  of  the  Mississippi."  He 
says  it  is  called  DemizimaguamagiLen-sibi  and  leads 
directly  into  Lac  Travers.  Much  additional  philo- 
logical proof  might  be  given  to  strengthen  Beltrami's 
position  and  to  identify  the  main  stream  as  located  by 
him. 

Again,  Beltrami  does  not  claim  (as  Allen  alleges) 
Tortoise,  or  Turtle,  Lake  as  the  "  true  source  of  the 
Mississippi,"  but  only  describes  it  and  its  feeders  as 
"  the  Julian  sources."     Yet,  on  the  map  attached  to 

^  Beltrami's  Pilgrimage  in  Europe  and  America,  2  vols.  London, 
1823. 

-  Executive  Reports,  1st  Session,  23d  Congress.  (1833.)  Vol.  ii., 
page  323. 

3  Beltrami's  Pilgrimage,  vol.  ii.,  page  434. 


The  Schoolcraft  Expedition  117 

Lieutenant  Allen's  report  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  a  mark  of  disrespect  for  Beltrami's  work  is 
placed  by  affixing  to  that  locality  the  words,  "  False 
source  of  the  Mississippi."  Schoolcraft  and  Allen 
subsequently  quarrelled;  but  at  the  time  of  their  jour- 
ney they  appear  to  have  agreed  that  they  possessed 
letters  patent  to  everything  associated  with  the  upper 
Mississippi.  They  write  as  though  the  river  belonged 
to  them ;  men  who  had  shown  them  the  route  are  warned 
off.  This  feeling  accounts  for  the  perpetration  of 
*'  ver  I-tas  ca-put,"  and  nothing  else  does.  Mr.  Bout- 
well's  letter  narrates  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
word  was  coined:  but  I  frankly  admit  not  to  have  un- 
derstood INIr.  Schoolcraft's  motive  for  insisting  upon 
stamping  "  true  source "  upon  Itasca  Lake  until  I 
examined  Lieutenant  Allen's  map. 

Recurring  to  the  various  theories  and  explanations 
that  had  been  put  forth  in  former  years,  to  account  for 
the  selection  of  the  name  "  Itasca,"  I  may  say  that 
after  the  Boutwell  announcement  was  made  by  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society,  considerable  merriment 
was  created  over  a  letter  that  had  appeared  in  a  Saint 
Paul  newspaper  in  INIay,  1872,  addressed  to  A.  J.  Hill, 
of  Saint  Paul,  by  Mary  H.  Eastman,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  in  which  she  had  repeated  a  remarkable  legend 
that  had  appeared  in  her  collection  of  Indian  Folk-lore, 
known  as  Eastman's  Aboriginal  Portfolio.  Here  is 
the  lady's  story,  as  taken  from  her  letter: 

Ttasea  was  the  danfjliter  of  ^Mnnabazlio,  Spirit  God  of  the 
Chippewas.  I  have  printed,  in  my  Ahoriginol  Portfolio  an 
account  of  the  exciting  scene  of  the  discovery  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  tradition  of  Itasca,  after  whom  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
named  the  lake.     The  Chippewa  .c;uide  gave  the  tradition   to 


ii8  The  Mississippi 

'Mr.  Schoolcraft  who  gave  it  to  me.     It  is  a  lovely  little  tradi- 
tion, and  reminds  one  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine. 

Itasca  was  beloved  by  Chebiabo,  keeper  of  the  souls  of  the 
dead,  and  was  about  to  be  torn  from  her  family  and  borne 
to  his  gloomy  abode,  she  having  refused  to  go  with  him.  The 
storm  spirits  interfered  in  her  behalf,  but  too  late  to  save 
her.  In  the  confusion  of  the  struggle  in  which  the  gods  took 
part,  Itasca  was  buried  under  hills  of  sand,  forming  a  mound 
that  the  Chippewa  guide  showed  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft  as  her 
grave.  The  rills  that  flow  from  the  rocks  and  sand,  forming 
the  lake,  are  made  by  the  tears  of  Itasca  weeping  for  ever 
for  home  and  friends, — the  sorrow  produced  by  the  revenge 
of  this  terrible  (Pluto)  Chebiabo.  The  name  and  tradition 
of  Itasca  are  as  reliable  as  any  other.  It  is  a  subject  for  a 
grand  poem. 

What  can  be  thought  of  the  statement  that  Mr. 
Schoolcraft  is  responsible  for  this  yarn? 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition 

THE  first  real  investigation  of  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  was  made  by  a  Frenchman,  Jean 
Nicolas  Nicollet,  who  came  to  the  United  States 
in  the  same  year  that  Schoolcraft  visited  and  named  the 
Itasca  region.  He  was  born  at  Cluses,  not  far  from 
Geneva,  in  Savoie,  in  1790.  His  parents  were  poor; 
he  learned  the  watchmaker's  trade  and  pursued  the 
study  of  mathematics.  He  went  to  Paris,  was  admitted 
to  the  first  class  of  L'Ecole  Normale,  and  soon  received 
an  appointment  as  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the 
College  of  Louis  le  Grand.  He  became  distinguished 
as  an  astronomer, — having  discovered  two  comets,  for 
which  he  received  the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour. 

Nicollet  arrived  in  New  Orleans,  according  to  the 
most  credible  authorities,  in  1832,  where  he  was  assisted 
by  Bishop  Chance  of  Natchez.  He  communicated  to 
the  War  Department  his  wish  to  engage  in  a  voyage 
of  exploration  on  the  upper  Mississippi.  He  set  out 
from  New  Orleans  on  a  tour  to  the  north  in  1835.  At 
Saint  Louis,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  P.  Chouteau, 
Jr.,  a  successful  merchant,  who  furnished  him  with 
means  to  prosecute  his  journey.  Henry  H.  Sibley, 
who  met  Nicollet  at  Fort  Snelling,  asserts  that  the 
Frenchman's    visit    to    Itasca    occurred    during    the 

119 


I20  The  Mississippi 

summer  of  1835,  instead  of  1836,  as  claimed  by 
the  traveller  himself/ 

Nicollet  arrived  in  Washington  after  his  exploration 
of  Itasca  in  1838,  published  his  reports,  and  was  sent 
on  a  mission  to  chart  the  vast  region  between  the  Mis- 
souri and  Mississippi.  The  career  of  John  C.  Fremont 
may  be  said  to  have  begun  with  that  expedition,  he 
having  been  assigned  thereto  by  the  Secretary  of  War. 
Nicollet  ascended  the  Missouri,  much  as  Lewis  and 
Clark  had  done,  and  returned  by  way  of  the  Minnesota 
River,  opening  a  new  country  to  civiHsation.  He  died, 
full  of  honours  but  poor  in  purse,  at  Washington  on 
September  18,  1844. 

J.  V.  Brower  summarises  Nicollet's  preliminary  re- 
port in  such  masterly  fashion  that  he  brings  out  its  best 
features.  This  summary  is  given  without  comment  on 
the  discrepancies  between  Nicollet's  measurements  and 
those  of  Schoolcraft^: 

The  Itasca  region  is  covered  with  American  larch  and  white 
cedars.  The  hills  to  the  east  of  Itasca  rise  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  above  the  water.  No  sign  of  the  flag  set  up  on 
Schoolcraft  Island.     So,  this  is  Itasca  Lake,— it  may  be  lik- 

1  See  Minnesota  Historical  Collections,  vol.  i.,  p.  188.  It  is  a  curi- 
ous and  highly  interesting  coincidence  that  M.  Nicollet  should  have 
had  the  same  Christian  name  as  his  distinguished  predecessor  in 
Northern  exploration,  Jean  Nicolet,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  "  Rela- 
tions "  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  as  arriving  in  Canada  in  1618,  and,  after 
spending  a  season  at  Nipissing  Lake,  was  sent  by  the  Company  of 
New  France  to  Les  Gens  de  Mer,  or  People  of  the  Sea  (the  Win- 
nebagoes) ,  to  negotiate  a  peace  between  them  and  the  Hurons.  The 
Nicollet  of  1836,  who  had  appreciative  words  for  everybody  that  had 
preceded  him,  was  savagely  attacked  and  a  contemporary  critic  as- 
serted that  his  baptismal  name  was  Joseph.  It  was  probably  a  mean, 
unjustified  assertion. 

2  Brower's  The  Mississippi  and  its  Source,  vol.  vii.  of  Minnesota 
Historical  Society  Collections. 


Nicollcrs   Ci-cck,    l.cvoiid    ll;isc;i 

("The  (^i-adlcd   Hci-cules."*) 

Courtesy  of  J.  \'.  B rower. 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  121 

ened  to  the  mysterious  source  of  the  Nile!  (IMiny,  lib,  v.) 
Five  small  creeks  enter  this  lake,  all  but  one  mere  trickling 
rills,  oozing  from  clay  beds  at  the  bases  of  the  hills  that 
consist  of  an  accumulation  of  sand,  gravel,  and  clay,  inter- 
mixed with  erratic  fragments. 

The  elevations  are  flat  on  top,  varying  in  height  from  eighty- 
five  to  one  hundred  feet  above  surrounding  waters.  They  are 
covered  with  thick  forests,  in  which  coniferous  plants  pre- 
dominate. South  of  Itasca  Lake,  they  form  a  semicircular 
region,  with  a  boggy  bottom  extending  to  the  south-west  sev- 
eral miles:  thence  these  Hauteurs  cles  Tcrrcs  ascend  to  the 
north-west  and  north,  and  then,  stretching  to  the  north-east 
and  east  through  the  zone  between  47  and  48  N.  latitude, 
make  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  waters  that  empty  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  into  Hudson  Bay.  The  waters  sup- 
plied by  the  north  side  of  these  heights — still  on  the  south 
side  of  Itasca — give  origin  to  the  five  creeks  referred  to. 
These  are  the  utmost  sources!  Those  that  flow  from  the 
southern  side  of  the  same  heights  form  Elbow  Lake,  the  source 
of  the  Red  River  of  the  North.     They  are  close  together. 

Of  the  five  streams  mentioned,  one  empties  into  the  east 
bay  of  the  lake  and  the  other  four  into  the  west  bay.  I  visited 
them  all.  I  explored  the  principal  one  (August  29,  IS.'Jd). 
At  its  entrance  into  Itasca  it  is  between  fifteen  and  twenty 
feet  wide,  and  has  a  depth  of  two  to  three  feet.  I  paddled 
against  a  brisk  current  for  twenty  minutes;  stream  full  of 
obstructions.  Leaving  my  canoe,  I  sought  the  springs  among 
the  hills  on  foot.  After  a  walk  of  three  miles,  into  the  hills, 
found  a  small  lake,  from  which  the  Mississippi  flowed  in  a 
current  a  foot  deep  and  two  feet  wide.  At  no  great  distance, 
however,  this  rivulet,  uniting  itself  w^ith  other  streams,  sup- 
plies a  second  minor  lake.  From  this  lake  issues  a  rivulet, 
larger  and  stronger, — "  a  cradled  Hercules," — giving  promise 
of  its  strength  and  its  maturity,  for  its  velocity  has  increased. 
It  transports  the  smaller  branches  of  trees ;  it  begins  to  form 
sand-bars;  its  bends  are  more  decided,  until  it  subsides  again 
into  the  basin  of  a  third  lake,  larger  tlian  the  two  preceding. 
Having  here  acquired  renewed  vigour  and  tried  its  consequence 


122  The  Mississippi 

upon  an  additional  length  of  two  or  three  miles  [sic]  it 
finally  empties  into  Lake  Itasca,  the  principal  reservoir  of  all 
the  sources  to  which  it  [the  Mississippi]  owes  its  subsequent 
majesty. 

M.  Nicollet  was  evidently  in  the  dark  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  name  Itasca.  (  See  "  Report,"  p.  59.) 
This  is  what  he  says  of  the  island: 

There  is  only  one  island  in  Itasca  Lake,  not  more  than 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two  yards  long,i  with  a  sandy,  grav- 
elly soil  but  covered  by  a  full  growth  of  northern  trees  tliat 
give  to  it  a  picturesque  appearance.  [Again,  he  says:]  The 
Mississippi,  as  it  issues  from  Itasca,  is  sixteen  feet  wide,  four- 
teen inches  deep,  beautifully  transparent,  and  swift  in  cur- 
rent. The  temperature  of  the  water  (August  29th)  at  7  a.m., 
was  sixty-two  whilst  the  air  was  fifty-six.  After  an  hour's 
descent,  the  stream  enlarged  to  twenty-five  feet,  three  feet 
deep. 

In  view  of  discussion  regarding  the  actual  achieve- 
ments of  Jean  N.  Nicollet,  we  cannot  do  better 
than  to  quote,  literally,  his  official  report  to  Con- 
gress,    published    January     11,     1845, — nearly     nine 


1  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  statement  with  Lieutenant 
Allen's  report  (of  the  Schoolcraft  expedition)  in  which  he  says: 
"  The  island,  which  I  called  '  Schoolcraft/  in  Lac  La  Biche,  is  150 
yards  long  (450  feet),  50  yards  broad  (150  feet)  and  elevated  20 
or  30  feet  in  its  highest  part;  a  little  rocky  in  boulders  and  grown 
over  with  pine,  spruce,  wild  cherry,  and  elm."  (See  Executive  Docu- 
ments, 1st  Session,  23d  Congress,  vol.  4,  p.  44.  Also  p.  323.)  Here 
is  what  he  says  of  the  region :  "  The  lake  is  surrounded  by  hills 
300  feet  high,  of  irregular  shape,  conforming  to  the  bases  of  these 
pine  hills,  which  for  a  great  part  of  its  circumference  rise  abruptly 
from  its  shores.  The  lake  is  deep,  very  clear,  and  cold.  ...  It 
would  seem  that  no  kind  of  animal  life  was  adapted  to  so  gloomy  a 
region." 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  123 

years  after  his  journey  and  four  months  after 
his  death.  He  had  given  many  of  his  last  hours  to 
a  revision  of  the  proofs/  We  begin  with  the  con- 
clusion of  the  final  portage  from  Leech  Lake  into 
Itasca: 


The  last  in  the  series  [of  ridges],  also  the  highest,  is  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  above  the  waters  of  Itasca  Lake. 
This  ridge,  with  a  rapid  descent,  led  us  to  the  borders  of  the 
lake,  where  I  took  a  barometrical  observation  at  noon. 

My  next  move  was  to  pitch  my  tent  on  Schoolcraft  Island. 
The  staff,  at  the  top  of  which  that  gentleman  informed  us  he 
had  raised  the  American  flag,  had  been  cut  down  by  Indians. 
I  made  use  of  what  remained  to  fix  upon  it  my  artificial  hori- 
zon, and  immediately  proceeded  to  make  astronomical  observa- 
tions, and  to  take  up  the  exploration  of  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi. 

The  Mississippi  holds  its  own  from  its  very  origin ;  for  it 
is  not  necessary  to  suppose,  as  has  been  done,  that  Lake 
Itasca  may  be  supplied  with  [from]  invisible  sources,  to  jus- 
tify the  character  of  a  remarkable  stream,  which  it  assumes 
at  its  issue  from  this  lake.  There  are  five  creeks  that  fall 
into  it,  formed  by  innumerable  streamlets  oozing  from  the 
clay  beds  at  the  bases  of  the  hills,  that  consist  of  an  accumu- 
lation of  sand,  gravel,  and  clay,  intermixed  with  erratic  frag- 
ments, being  a  more  prominent  portion  of  the  great  erratic 
deposit  previously  described  and  which  here  is  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Hauteurs  des  Terrcs  ^' — heights  of  land. 

These  elevations  are  commonly  flat  at  top,  varying  in  height 
from  eighty-five  to  one  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 

1  The  text  is  taken  from  a  copy  of  the  Nicollet  "  Report "  in  the 
possession  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  which  is  a  presenta- 
tion volume  inscribed,  "  To  His  Excellency,  Baron  Alexander  von 
Humboldt,  from  his  fervent  admirer,  J.  G.  Fliigel."  Doc.  No.  52, 
House  of  Representatives,  28th  Congress,  2d  Session,  1845;  page  56 
et  seq.  Jean  Godefroi  Fliigel  was  a  German  lexicographer  who  served 
as  a  German  consul  in  the  United  States  and  died  in  1855. — J.  C. 


124  The  Mississippi 

surronnding  waters.  They  are  covered  with  thick  forests,  in 
which  coniferous  plants  predominate.^ 

The  waters  sui)plied  by  the  north  flank  of  these  heights 
of  land — still  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Itasca — give  origin 
to  the  five  creeks  of  which  I  have  spoken  above.  These  are 
the  waters  ivhich  I  consider  to  he  the  utmost  sources  of  the 
Mississippi.  Those  that  flow  from  the  southern  side  of 
the  same  heights,  and  empty  themselves  into  Elbow  Lake, 
are  the  utmost  sources  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North ;  so  that 
the  most  remote  feeders  of  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  are  closely  approximated  to  each  other. 

Now,  of  the  five  creeks  that  empty  into  Itasca  Lake,  one 
empties  into  the  east  bay  of  the  lake:  the  four  others  into  the 
west  bay.  I  visited  the  whole  of  them;  and  among  the  latter 
is  one  remarkable  above  the  others,  inasmuch  as  its  course  is 
longer,  and  its  waters  more  abundant :  so  that,  in  obedience  to 
the  geographical  rule,  "  that  the  sources  of  a  river  are  those 
which  are  most  distant  from  its  mouth,"  this  creek  is  truly 
the  infant  Mississippi;  all  others  helow,  its  feeders  and 
tributaries. 

The  day  on  which  I  explored  this  princix)al  creek  (August 
29,  1836),  I  judged  that,  at  its  entrance  into  Itasca  Lake,  its 
bed  was  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  wide,  and  the  depth  of 
water  from  two  to  three  feet.^  We  stemmed  its  pretty  brisk 
current  during  ten  or  twenty  minutes;  but  the  obstructions 
occasioned  by  the  fall  of  trees  compelled  us  to  abandon  the 
canoe,  and  to  seek  its  springs  on  foot,  along  the  hills.  After 
a  walk  of  three  miles  ^  (sic),  during  which  we  took  care  not 
to  lose  sight  of  the  Mississippi,  my  guides  informed  me  that 
it  was  better  to  descend  into  the  trough  of  the  valley;  when, 
accordingly,  we  found  numberless  streamlets  oozing  from  the 
bases  of  the  hills.  [Remarks  about  temperature  at  this  point 
are  omitted.] 

1  A  brief  omission  of  matter  quoted  by  Brower,  and  of  a  few  sen- 
tences describing  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  Mississippi  and  Red 
River  of  the  North,  occurs  here.     The  latter  is  not  pertinent   (p.  58). 

-  The  reader  is  asked  to  refer  to  the  Government  survey  map  in 
the  front  of  this  volume. 


The  Mouth  of  Nicollt'1's  ('reek,  when"  it    l^nters   Itasca. 
(Taken  since  the  Building  of  the  Dam  at  the  Outlet  of  the  Lake.) 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  125 

As  a  further  description  of  those  head  waters,  I  niaj  add 
that  they  unite  at  a  small  distance  from  the  hills  whence  they 
orijijinate,  and  form  a  small  lake,  from  which  the  Mississii)pi 
tlows  with  a  breadth  of  a  foot  and  a  half,  and  a  depth  of  a 
foot.  At  no  great  distance,^  however,  this  rivulet,  uniting 
itself  with  other  streamlets  coming  from  other  directions, 
supplies  a  second  minor  lake,  the  waters  of  which  have  already 
acquired  a  temperature  of  48°.  From  this  lake  issues  a 
rivulet,  necessarily  of  increased  importance — a  cradled  Her- 
cules, giving  promise  of  the  strength  of  its  maturity;  for  its 
velocity  is  increased;  it  transports  the  smaller  branches  of 
trees;  it  begins  to  form  sand  bars;  its  bends  are  more  de- 
cided, until  it  subsides  again  into  the  basin  of  a  third  lake, 
somewhat  larger  than  the  two  preceding.-  Having  here  ac- 
quired renewed  vigour,  and  tried  its  consequence  upon  an 
additional  length  of  two  or  three  miles  [!],  it  finaHy  empties 
into  Itasca  Lake,  which  is  the  principal  reservoir  of  all  the 
sources  to  which  it  [the  Mississippi]  owes  all  its  subsequent 
majesty.  [Some  comments  on  Schoolcraft,  Lieutenant  Allen, 
and  Beltrami  are  omitted.] 

After  having  devoted  three  days  to  an  exploration  of  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi,  I  took  leave  of  Itasca  Lake,  to  the 
examination  of  which  the  expedition  that  preceded  me  by 
four  years  had  devoted  but  a  short  time.     (Allen's  report,  44.) 

M.  Nicollet's  account  of  his  descent  of  the  river  to 
Lake  Cass  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  of  Lieu- 
tenant Allen,  who  accompanied  Schoolcraft.  From 
that  point,  he  went  "  through  intemiediary  lakes  and 
portages  "  to  Leech  Lake,  where  we  leave  him. 

]Mr.  J.  V.  Brower,  who  gave  the  best  years  of  his 
life  to  maintaining  the  worthy,  if  confusing,  claims  of 

1  Among  the  articles  enumerated  in  M.  Nicollet's  kit  was  "  a  meas- 
uring tape  "  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  he  did  not  use  it. 

-  All  of  which  is  very  confusing,  unless  we  are  to  understand  that 
the  stream  grew  larger  as  it  neared  its  ultimate  source.  Nicollet  in 
his  ascent,  "  took  care  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  Mississippi."  Mr. 
Brewer's  explanation  is  ingenious  (see  next  page). 


126  The  Mississippi 

Jean  N.  Nicollet,  admitted  the  difRculty  of  explaining 
Nicollet's  report.     He  says  ^ : 

The  discovery  of  three  small  lakes  by  M.  Nicollet,  up  the 
channel  of  the  main  tributary,  so  graphically  desci'ibed  by 
him,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  located  them  upon  his  map, 
without  careful  courses  and  measurements,  has  misled  ob- 
servers of  the  locality  as  to  his  three  lakes.  Hopewell  Clarke 
was  led  to  presume  that  his  third  lake  was  a  small  body  of 
water  (now  a  dry  bed)  to  the  eastward  of  his  middle  lake, 
while  my  casual  examination  of  1888,  in  the  confusion  of 
location  in  which  M.  Kicollet  placed  these  three  bodies  of 
water,  indicated  that  the  third  lake  up  the  tributary  did 
not  exist,  and  a  belief  accordingly  was  publicly  expressed. 
No  one  question  has  been  more  puzzling  than  the  identity  of 
Nicollet's  third  lake.  There  is  a  probability  that  M.  Nicollet 
in  passing  up  the  valley  and  affluent  discovered  by  him 
became  bewildered  in  the  thickets  of  the  locality,  which  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  his  correctly  delineating  the  topo- 
graphy of  the  spot.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  certainly 
and  accurately  trace  his  steps  after  he  left  his  canoe  and 
passed  along  the  brow  of  the  hills,  being  careful  to  remain 
within  sight  of  the  stream,  that  he  might  not  become  lost.  It 
is  possible,  since  it  is  certain  that  he  passed  up  the  valley 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  stream,  that  he  only  saw  two  lakes, 
for  the  peculiarities  of  the  topography  there,  in  passing  up 
the  valley  on  the  brow  of  the  hills  on  the  east  side  of  the 
stream,  bring  the  middle  lake  in  sight  first,  and  continuing, 
the  lower  lake  comes  in  sight,  thence  passing  up  the  stream 
the  middle  lake  again  comes  to  the  view.  Query:  May  it  not 
have  been  that  Nicollet,  passing  the  middle  lake  first,  reach- 
ing the  lower  lake  second,  and  then  again  arriving  at  the 
middle  lake,  may  have  made  the  mistak ;  o^  describing  the 
two  lakes  as  three,  having  arrived  in  sight  of  the  middle  lake  a 
second  time?  Such  a  view  is  forced  upon  the  reader  of  his 
report,  in  the  light  of  a  survey  in  detail  of  Nicollet's  lower 

''■The  Mississippi  River  and  its  Source,  by  J.   V.   Brower.     Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  vii.,  162. 


Till-  Oiillfl  of  Xicollft'K  Midillv   I.mUi- 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  127 

and  middle  lakes;  especially  so,  since  it  is  known  that  the 
waters,  in  abundance,  ooze  from  the  base  of  the  hill  imme- 
diately above  Nicollet's  middle  lake,  and  uniting  form  a  stream 
of  continued  surface  fiowage  to  Itasca  Lake.  It  is  very  doubt- 
ful if  Nicollet  ever  saw  the  pool  of  water  which  has  been 
designated  as  his  third  lake,  for  purposes  of  correct  geo- 
graphical delineation.  It,  however,  is  the  only  pathway  out 
of  a  dilemma  at  this  time. 

After  an  exhaustive  consideration  of  the  question,  it  is 
believed  that  the  underground  channel,  now  distinctly  defined 
between  Nicollet's  upper  and  middle  lakes,  possibly  might  have 
been,  in  1836,  a  surface  channel,  and,  accordingly,  a  declared 
determination  upon  the  question  of  the  three  lakes  has  been 
made  with  much  doubt.^ 

Just  how  much  this  explanation  explains  is  left  to 
impartial  readers.  The  author  of  this  volume  does  not 
express  an  opinion;  and  he  venerates  Mr.  Brower. 

In  this  immediate  connection  (although  it  does  not 
belong  here  chronologically) ,  I  annex  to  ]M.  Nicollet's 
report  the  account  of  Hopewell  Clarke's  special  survey 
of  the  Nicollet  valley,  made  in  1886,  at  the  instance 
of  Henry  D.  Harrower.^     Mr.  Clarke's  standing  and 

1  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Dec.  18,  1889. 

After  due  deliberation,  and  with  a  copy  of  Nicollet's  original  map 
of  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  North  Red  River  before  us,  we 
conclude  the  three  lakes  noted  by  Nicollet  on  the  principal  affluent  to 
Lake  Itasca,  as  shown  by  his  said  map,  are  the  two  lakes  in  the 
south-east  quarter  of  section  21,  and  the  small  lake  in  the  south-west 
corner  of  section  22,  township  143,  range  36. 

Signed:  Hopewell  Clarke, 

J.  V.  Brower. 

~  Mr.  Henry  D.  Harrower,  representing  the  educational  publishing 
house  of  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Co.,  had  previously  issued  a 
small  volume  dealing  conclusively  with  the  claims  of  Captain  Willai'd 
Glazier,  made  by  Glazier  as  a  result  of  a  trip  to  the  Itasca  country 
in  1884.  On  page  21  of  that  book,  Mr.  Harrower  says:  "  Some  time 
after  most  of  this  paper  was  in  type  I  learned  the  name  and  ad- 
dress of  the  New  York  Herald  correspondent  of  1872.  Mr.  Julius 
Chambers  at  once  kindly  placed  his  note-book  at  my  service,  and  a 


128  The  Mississippi 

experience  are  recognised.  With  two  assistants,  he 
entered  the  Itasca  basin  from  the  southward,  by  way 
of  Park  Rapids,  and  arrived  at  Itasca  Lake,  October 
13,  1886.  His  report  bears  date  of  December  7th,  of 
that  year;  and  his  survey  map,  taken  therefrom,  is  much 
more  detailed  than  that  of  the  Government  surveyor, 
Edwin  S.  Hall. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CLARKE  MAP 

Nicollet  Creek  is  the  largest  feeder  of  the  lake.  It  is  16 
feet  wide  and  2^/2  feet  deep  at  its  entrance  to  Itasca.  My 
exploration  of  this  stream  was  the  most  complicated  and 
difficult  of  our  undertakings,  and  it  was  with  considerable 
difficulty  that  we  were  able  to  identify  the  three  lakes  which 
Nicollet  describes:  but,  while  on  the  ground,  we  concluded 
that  Nicollet's  three  lakes  are  those  marked  on  my  map  A,  B, 
and  C.  At  first  sight,  it  would  seem,  from  Nicollet's  descrip- 
tion, that  these  are  not  the  ones  to  which  he  referred;  and 
I  have  given  much  study  to  the  points  involved,  endeavouring 
to  reconcile  his  description  with  some  other  theory. 

We  followed  the  stream  to  the  first  lake  at  the  edge  of 
the  hills  and  through  the  swamps;  the  course  of  the  brook  is 
two  miles  in  length  and  seemed  like  four.  Distances  on  the 
ground  double  up  very  fast  when  one  follows  crooked  streams, 
— as  you  will  remember  when  you  compare  the  length  of  the 
stream  between  Itasca  and  Elk  lakes  (1084  feet)  with  the  act- 
ual distance  between  the  two  lakes  (350  feet).  If  we  add  to 
the  actual  length  of  the  course  of  the  stream  from  the  lake  A 
to  its  outlet  at  D,  which  is  in  reality  two  miles,  the  difficulties 
Nicollet  encountered  wading  through  the  tamarack  marsh,  we 

copy  of  his  note-book  map  is  here  reproduced  for  the  first  time.  See 
page  22."  On  page  26,  he  adds:  "Mr.  Chambers  went  over  every 
mile  of  the  river  by  water.  He  did  not  make  any  stump  speech,  did 
not  rate  himself  a  great  discoverer,  did  not  call  his  lake,  '  Lake 
Chambers,'  was  not  greeted  by  brass-bands,  and  did  not  finally  re- 
ceive the  freedom  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans." 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  129 

can  easily  believe  that  this  is  the  course  he  describes  as  *'  two 
or  three  miles  in  length.  .  .  ." 

But  lake  C  is  not  the  source  at  the  present  time  from  which 
Nicollet's  stream  draws  its  principal  supply  of  water.  To  find 
this  source,  after  considerable  exploration,  we  were  obliged  to 
go  to  a  lake  which  has  its  head  in  the  north-western  quarter 
of  section  34.  .  This  is  the  utmost  source  and  fountain-head 
of  the  water  flowing  north  into  Lake  Itasca.  The  lake  itself 
is  fed  by  numerous  springs  along  its  borders,  and  its  surface 
is  92  feet  above  the  level  of  Lake  Itasca.  The  small  inlet  from 
the  lake  marked  /  was  dry  when  we  visited  it,  but  water  runs 
through  it  in  the  wet  season.  The  hills  south  rise  from  20 
to  160  feet  high,  and  Avater  never  has  flowed  over  them,  north- 
ward. It  might  be  interesting  to  know  how  far  it  flows 
under  them.  It  is  certain  that  it  does,  but  there  is  no  way 
to  trace  the  course  or  distance.  All  the  streams  in  this  part 
of  the  basin  rise  in  springs  in  tamarack  swamps,  which  are 
undoubtedly  fed  by  water  percolating  under  the  hills  from 
lakes  and  swamx)s  beyond;  and,  no  doubt,  the  group  of  lakes 
TJ,  B,  W,  and  X,  in  the  southern  part  of  sections  33,  34,  and 
35,  which  spread  out  to  a  considerable  extent  in  sections  3, 
4,  and  5  of  the  townships  next  south,  are  the  reservoirs  that 
feed  a  number  of  these  streams.  Beginning  with  the  lake 
marked  H,  it  spreads  northward  nearly  half  a  mile.  At  its 
northern  end,  the  water  flows  out  of  this  lake  in  a  stream 
ly-z  feet  wide,  and  1  foot  deep,  and,  running  west  about  200 
feet,  empties  into  a  small  lake  about  2  acres  in  extent,  marked 
G.  This  lake  connects  with  another  of  the  same  size  about 
20  feet  to  the  west  of  it. 

At  the  time  we  were  there,  both  ponds  were  full  of  moss 
and  bogs,  and  almost  dried  up,  the  abundant  inflow  of  water 
running  out  by  underground  passages  as  fast  as  it  came  in; 
but  both  lakes  show  that  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  they 
contain  4  feet  more  of  water,  caused  by  the  increased  flow  in 
the  springtime  and  in  the  rainy  season.  At  that  time  the 
underground  passages  are  not  large  enough  to  carry  the  water 
off,  and  so  it  accumulates  and  the  ponds  fill  up.  Apparently 
they  once  had  a  surface  outlet  which  is  now  closed  by  a  beaver 


The  Jean  N.  Nicollet  Expedition  129 

can  easily  believe  that  this  is  the  course  he  describes  as  "  two 
or  three  miles  in  length.  .  .  ." 

But  lake  G  is  not  the  source  at  the  present  time  from  which 
Nicollet's  stream  draws  its  principal  supply  of  water.  To  find 
this  source,  after  considerable  exploration,  we  were  obliged  to 
go  to  a  lake  w^hich  has  its  head  in  the  north-western  quarter 
of  section  34.  .  This  is  the  utmost  source  and  fountain-head 
of  the  water  flowing  north  into  Lake  Itasca.  The  lake  itself 
is  fed  by  numerous  springs  along  its  borders,  and  its  surface 
is  92  feet  above  the  level  of  Lake  Itasca.  The  small  inlet  from 
the  lake  marked  /  was  dry  when  we  visited  it,  but  water  runs 
through  it  in  the  wet  season.  The  hills  south  rise  from  20 
to  160  feet  high,  and  water  never  has  flowed  over  them,  north- 
ward. It  might  be  interesting  to  know  how  far  it  flows 
under  them.  It  is  certain  that  it  does,  but  there  is  no  way 
to  trace  the  course  or  distance.  All  the  streams  in  this  part 
of  the  basin  rise  in  springs  in  tamarack  swamps,  which  are 
undoubtedly  fed  by  water  percolating  under  the  hills  from 
lakes  and  swamps  beyond;  and,  no  doubt,  the  group  of  lakes 
V,  B,  W,  and  X,  in  the  southern  part  of  sections  33,  34,  and 
35,  which  spread  out  to  a  considerable  extent  in  sections  3, 
4,  and  5  of  the  townships  next  south,  are  the  reservoirs  that 
feed  a  number  of  these  streams.  Beginning  with  the  lake 
marked  E,  it  spreads  northward  nearly  half  a  mile.  At  its 
northern  end,  the  water  flows  out  of  this  lake  in  a  stream 
11/2  feet  wide,  and  1  foot  deep,  and,  running  west  about  200 
feet,  empties  into  a  small  lake  about  2  acres  in  extent,  marked 
G.  This  lake  connects  with  another  of  the  same  size  about 
20  feet  to  the  west  of  it. 

At  the  time  we  were  there,  both  ponds  were  full  of  moss 
and  bogs,  and  almost  dried  up,  the  abundant  inflow  of  water 
running  out  by  underground  passages  as  fast  as  it  came  in ; 
but  both  lakes  show  that  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  they 
contain  4  feet  more  of  water,  caused  by  the  increased  flow  in 
the  springtime  and  in  the  rainy  season.  At  that  time  the 
underground  passages  are  not  large  enough  to  carry  the  water 
off,  and  so  it  accumulates  and  the  ponds  fill  up.  Apparently 
they  once  had  a  surface  outlet  which  is  now  closed  by  a  beaver 


I30  The  Mississippi 

dam.  The  water  flowing  from  the  two  lakes  feeds  the  tv^'o 
springs  numbered  3  and  5. 

Proceeding  to  the  spring  marked  5,  we  find  the  water 
bubbling  up  and  flowing  away  in  a  rapid,  lively  stream,  in  a 
direction  generally  northward.  It  is  fed  by  springs  along  its 
course  until  it  reaches  the  extreme  south-western  corner  of 
section  22,  where  it  is  2i/2  feet  wide  and  8  inches  deep,  and 
discharges  into  a  small  pond  of  about  5  acres  in  extent.  This 
pond  is  the  most  remarkable  one  in  the  course  of  the  stream ; 
■it  has  no  surface  outlet,  and,  from  the  formation  of  the  land 
about  it,  apparently  has  never  been  any  larger  than  it  now 
is;  but,  with  the  large  volume  of  water  flowing  into  it,  we 
perceive  that  it  must,  of  course,  have  a  steady  and  sufficient 
outlet  underground.  This  we  found  to  be  toward  the  west, 
where  it  bursts  forth  in  an  immense  spring  or  pool,  marked 
2,  in  the  extreme  south-eastern  quarter  of  section  21.  The 
lowest  point  on  the  hill  between  the  pond  and  the  spring  is 
12  feet  above  the  level  of  the  pond;  and  the  water,  dropping 
underground,  bubbles  up  in  the  swamp  200  feet  away  and  33 
feet  below  that  level.  The  stream  passes  underground  from 
section  22  into  section  21,  and  is  therefore  invisible  to  one 
following  up  the  course  of  the  section  line. 

Proceeding  from  the  spring  marked  2,  the  water  flows  in 
a  north-westerly  direction,  and  empties  into  the  lake  marked 
B, — the  second  one  of  Nicollet's  chain  of  lakes.  The  outlet 
of  this  lake  is  on  the  west  side,  a  stream  3  feet  wide  and  a 
foot  deep,  joined  at  a  short  distance  by  another  from  the 
south.  Following  up  the  stream,  which  joins  the  main  one 
on  section  21,  we  find  it  rises  on  section  28  at  a  spring 
marked  3,  evidently  fed  by  an  underground  passage  from  the 
pond  F.  These  streams  are  re-enforced  throughout  their 
course  by  springs  which  ooze  from  the  bases  of  the  hills  that 
line  the  tamarack  swamps;  so  that,  when  the  creek  leaves 
lake  Aj  it  flows  with  a  brisk  current  12  feet  wide  and  1  foot 
deep,  which  is  further  re-enforced  by  numerous  springs  all 
the  way  to  Lake  Itasca.  At  the  point  of  its  discharge  into 
the  lake,  it  is  a  broad,  well-defined  stream,  16  feet  wide,  and 
21/2  feet  deep  at  its  deepest  point. 


The  Sources  of  the  Mississipj)i. 
First  Official  Survey  Map,  1875,  by  Edwin  S.  Hall. 


CHAPTER  X 

Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass 

"  r^  CHOOLCRAFT  in  1832  and  Nicollet  in  1836, 
^S  — nobody  of  record  since  that  time !  "  exclaimed 
a  New  York  newspaper  correspondent  in  the 
Congressional  Library,  at  Washington,  one  day,  after 
an  examination  of  all  reports,  official  and  otherwise,  of 
exploration  at  the  head-waters  of  the  ]Mississippi  River. 
The  time  was  January,  1872.  Forty  years  had  elapsed 
since  Schoolcraft  had  visited  and  named  Itasca  Lake, 
as  "  the  true  source  "  of  the  "  Father  of  Waters." 

Mr.  Schoolcraft's  official  report  showed  that  he  had 
merely  paddled  from  the  southern  end  of  the  eastern 
arm  of  Itasca  to  the  only  island  in  the  lake  and  thence 
direct  to  the  outlet.  That  he  had  overlooked  important 
features  was  proved  by  Nicollet's  visit,  four  years  later. 
This  capable  and  scholarly  Frenchman  had  passed  four 
days  at  Itasca  and  had  examined  the  west  arm  of  the 
lake,  which  Schoolcraft  had  wholly  neglected. 

Plans  for  a  trip  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi 
took  form  in  the  correspondent's  mind,  which  were 
subsequently  carried  out.  Three  months  in  the  open 
air  had  been  ordered  by  a  physician,  to  supplement 
recovery  from  serious  illness,  and  such  an  outing  af- 
forded opportunity  to  obey  that  command.  The  corre- 
spondent financed  the  expedition  himself,  although  he 
arranged  to  send  letters  to  the  New  York  Herald. 


132  The  Mississippi 

The  best  map  that  Colton,  New  York's  cartographist 
of  the  time,  could  supply,  showed  the  Itasca  region  as 
a  blank!  A  journey  was  made  to  Troy,  and  a  canoe 
was  ordered  from  Waters,  Balch  &  Co.,  to  be  delivered 
at  Saint  Paul  the  first  week  in  May. 

When  the  correspondent  arrived  at  the  capital  of 
JNIinnesota,  he  visited  the  State  Land  Office,  in  hope 
that  the  large  Colton  map  could  be  supplemented  with 
details  sufficiently  clear  to  lay  out  a  route  to  Itasca 
Lake.  Not  a  single  profitable  addition  was  made  to 
the  chart!  It  was  desirable  to  go  by  some  other  route 
than  that  of  Leech  Lake,  w^hich  Nicollet  had  followed. 
Greatly  disappointed,  the  would-be  canoeist  sent  his 
boat  by  rail  to  Brainerd,  but  personally  stopped  in 
Duluth,  still  intent  upon  obtaining  needed  information. 
This  "  City  of  the  Unsalted  Seas  "  was  then  a  small 
nest  of  white  frame  houses,  clinging  to  a  rocky  hill- 
side, with  not  enough  scrubby  pines  to  shelter  its  brood 
from  the  keen  winds  of  Lake  Superior.  Its  streets 
were  sloughs  and  its  hotel  was  something  memorable. 
A  photograph,  secured  that  daj^  is  veritable. 

The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  was  slowly  progress- 
ing across  Minnesota  toward  the  Red  River  of  the 
North.  Possessing  a  personal  letter  from  Jay  Cooke, 
the  directing  mind  in  that  enterprise,  the  writer  of  this 
narrative  went  to  Brainerd  and  sought  information  at 
"  Headquarters,"  as  the  combined  hotel  and  offices  of 
the  corporation  were  described.  There,  Dr.  Day,  then 
Indian  Commissioner,  was  encountered.  He  was  on 
his  way  to  White  Earth.  Acting  upon  his  advice,  the 
correspondent  resumed  the  journey  westward  by  rail. 
Leaving  the  train  at  Oak  Lake  station,  not  far  from 
the  present  town  of  Detroit  Lake,  the  night  was  passed 


Saint   raul.   Looking-  Soiilliwest. 
From  a  photograph  taken  in  1872. 


Tlir  ('i!\    (.r   hiihiili   ill    ISTi'. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  133 

in  a  log  tavern,  and  on  the  following  day  a  waggon 
carried  the  Commissioner  and  the  correspondent  twenty 
miles  across  the  prairie  to  White  Earth,  seat  of  the 
Chippewa  Indian  Reservation  of  that  name,  where,  at 
JNIorrison's  trading  post,  the  expedition  to  Itasca  Lake 
was  outfitted. 

I AT  W^HITE  EAUTH  MISSION 

The  "  hotel "  was  chiefly  of  logs  and  its  partitions 
were  of  straw-board.  Its  mistress  was  a  daughter  of 
"  Hole  in  the  Day,"  a  Chippewa  chief  whose  name 
was  national.  A  church  and  a  school  were  the  only 
evidences  of  civilisation,  although  a  few  small  plots  of 
ground  were  devoted  to  agriculture.  "  Graves  in  the 
air,"  bodies  of  the  dead  supported  by  poles,  were  seen. 
One  of  the  best  guides  in  the  North-west,  Henry  Beau- 
lieu,  of  a  famous  French-Canadian  family  at  Mackinaw, 
and  a  packman  were  engaged ;  word  was  sent  by  runner 
to  another  Chippewa  carrier  to  meet  the  party  at  the 
first  long  portage. 

The  people  at  the  INIission  were  gravely  anxious, 
just  then,  regarding  the  fate  of  a  missing  man.  One 
of  the  most  widely  known  "  timber-cruisers  "  in  ]Min- 
nesota,  Peter  Kelly,  had  set  out,  more  than  a  month 
before,  to  locate  land-scrip  in  the  Itasca  mlderness,  but 
had  not  returned. 

Frontiersmen  are  united  by  a  brotherhood  of  com- 
mon, ever-present  danger.  ]Men  belonging  to  the 
White  Earth  ^lission  had  vainly  tried  to  follow  Kelly's 
trail  into  the  brush  and  through  a  broad  belt  of  fallen 
timber.  The  lost  man  was  not  familiar  with  the  Itasca 
region.     He  was  a  servant  of  foreign  monopolists,  that. 


134  The  Mississippi 

in  local  belief,  were  stealing  timber  lands  from  the 
government:  nevertheless,  these  natural  philanthropists 
could  not  permit  Kelly  to  die  in  the  woods,  unsought. 
The  second  search  party  had  returned,  unsuccessful  and 
hopeless.  The  pioneers  at  White  Earth  agreed  that 
the  "  timber-cruiser  "  had  been  maimed  in  crossing  a 
tornado  path  and  had  died  of  starvation  in  the  woods. 

"  Cruising  for  timber  "  is  a  livelihood  of  the  forest 
primeval.  The  simile  is  apt.  A  woodman  who  seeks 
new  lumber  regions  amid  the  pathless  wilderness,  where 
the  sun  is  hidden  by  day  and  the  stars  by  night,  is  as 
bold  a  navigator  as  is  the  sailor  on  the  trackless  waste 
of  the  deep. 

The  "  timber-cniiser  "  is  a  child  of  the  woods,  as  was 
the  coureur  de  hois  who  preceded  him;  and,  like  his 
precursor,  he  is  an  advance  agent  of  civilisation.  Scien- 
tifically, he  knows  little  of  astronomy  beyond  the  sun's 
course  and  the  polar  star.  In  the  forest  primeval,  the 
heaven-lit  constellations  can  rarely  be  seen;  but  the 
secrets  of  terrestrial  nature,  sacred  possessions  of  path- 
finders gone  before,  guide  him  on  his  way.  His  trained 
eye  will  detect  the  deflection  of  tender  twigs  toward 
the  south.  The  gray  moss  of  the  tree-trunks  is  always 
on  the  side  toward  the  north;  the  bark  is  more  supple 
and  smoother  on  the  east  than  on  the  west;  southward 
the  mildew  never  comes.  On  the  prairie,  he  knows  that 
the  tips  of  the  grass  incline  toward  the  south,  and  are 
less  green  on  the  northward  side.  Thus  does  an  un- 
lettered savant  box  the  compass  in  the  wilderness. 

The  "  timber-cruiser  "  is  a  forest  king!  The  wealth 
of  the  woods  is  his.  Here  he  reigns  alone, — he  dares 
not  have  a  confidant!  His  is  the  task  of  locating  the 
land-scrip   that   capitalists   or  corj^orations   have   pur- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  135 

chased  from  government.  He  precedes  the  woodman, 
the  axe,  and  the  saw.  He  undertakes  arduous  jour- 
neys, equipped  only  with  a  blanket,  a  gun,  a  compass, 
and  salted  provisions.  He  relies  upon  his  weapon  to 
provide  fresh  meat  and  protection.  His  acts  of 
courage,  endurance,  and  skill  never  are  witnessed,— 
never  are  discussed  by  himself.  His  success  or  failure 
is  known  only  to  the  directors  of  the  lumber  companies 
that  employ  him  and  to  whom  he  makes  a  detailed 
report.  So  retentive  is  his  memory  that  at  the  end  of 
a  two  months'  "  cruise  "  he  can  indicate  upon  a  map  the 
tracts  of  valuable  woodland  among  a  hundred  square 
miles  of  worthless  tamarack:  but  the  exact  location  of 
the  treasure  is  a  secret  to  be  guarded  with  his  life. 
Months  may  pass  before  the  lands  can  be  "  taken  up  " 
and  entered  upon  the  records  at  Washington. 

The  pathless  forest  is  the  "  timber-cruiser's  "  home. 
Solitude  is  his  companion;  and,  like  his  brother  on  "  the 
multitudinous  seas,"  he  often  dies  alone,  his  unburied 
body  becoming  part  of  the  elements  he  so  intimately 
courts.     He  is  unknown  to  song  or  stoiy. 

A  waggon  carried  our  boat  and  provisions  through 
six  miles  of  morass,  briars,  and  pine  woods  to  White 
Earth  Lake.  Crossing  this,  the  route  followed  the 
White  Earth  River  for  two  miles  to  a  portage  around 
a  fall.  Seven  miles  farther,  against  a  sluggish  current, 
through  another  reed-encircled  lake,  brought  us  to  a 
portage  of  one  mile  to  the  Twin  Lakes.  These  bodies 
of  water  are  prettily  located  amid  pine-covered  hills. 
We  crossed  the  first  one  and  encamped  on  the  narrow 
strip  of  land  that  separates  the  two  lakes.  A  wretched 
night  among  wood  ticks  and  mosquitoes  followed. 

After  crossing  the  second  lake,  we  were  met  by  an 


136  The  Mississippi 

aged  Chippewa,  engaged  for  the  long  carry  of  ten  miles 
across  a  desolate  tract  of  red  sand  and  charred  stumps, 
due  north  by  the  compass,  to  the  Wild  Rice  River.  The 
soil  was  a-bloom  with  purple  moss,  its  only  vegetation. 
Late  in  the  day,  this  river  was  reached.  It  is  twenty- 
five  feet  in  width  at  this  point,  although  on  Colton's 
map  it  did  not  extend  more  than  ten  miles  east  of  the 
Red  River.     We  camped  for  the  night. 

At  four  o'clock,  sunrise,  the  ascent  of  the  river  be- 
gan. Wild  Rice  Lake,  six  miles  long,  was  traversed. 
It  is  an  immense  field  of  rice,  nowhere  more  than  five 
feet  deep,  and  supplies  grain  for  a  vast  region.  After 
leaving  the  lake,  the  stream  became  so  tortuous  that 
the  compass  *'  boxed "  itself ;  thence,  through  a  dense 
forest  of  pine,  from  which  the  river  emerged  into  a 
grassy  meadow,  strewn  with  trunks  and  branches  of 
large  trees, — carried  thither  by  tornado  from  a  nearby 
tract  of  woods,  across  which  it  had  passed.  Several 
hemlocks  and  oaks  were  noticed  standing  on  their  tops, 
with  trunks  skyward!  This  was  not  a  "windfall"  in 
the  accepted  sense,  which  is  a  tornado  track  through 
a  forest.  Two  of  the  real  sort,  of  different  ages,  were 
encountered  on  the  following  day,  when  a  long  portage 
(five  miles),  chiefly  through  tamaracks,  had  to  be  un- 
dertaken to  reach  a  chain  of  three  lakes,  in  the  Wild 
Rice  watercourse,  the  river  course  turning  too  far 
northward  to  be  followed. 

Amid  the  fallen  timber,  the  guide  wielded  a  hand 
axe  with  surprising  effectiveness,  often  leading  the  path 
up  an  inclined  trunk  of  a  fallen  forest-monarch  and 
chopping  a  path  for  descent  along  a  similar  bridge, 
equally  slimy  and  treacherous.  Within  half  a  mile  of  this 
portage,  we  entered  a  fine  grove  of  oak  and  basswood. 


pii 


A 


^-^ 


A  Typical  (Miipjiewa. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  137 

A  small  stream  of  clear  water,  that  separated  it  from 
a  tamarack  morass,  drew  the  line  of  demarkation. 

The  methods  of  native  guides  have  not  changed  since 
the  days  of  St.  Cosme  or  of  Father  Gravier,  for  my 
Chippewas  frequently  said :  "  Up  this  stream  so  many 
days,"  or  "  so  many  carries  to  such  and  such  a 
place." 

The  first  of  the  three  lakes  mentioned  charmed  the 
eye.  A  mile  and  a  half  long,  with  a  beach  of  spark- 
ling sand,  it  seemed  a  harbinger  of  civilisation;  but  not 
a  house  or  wigwam  was  visible  upon  its  shores.  Al- 
though early  in  the  afternoon,  this  marked  the  end  of 
the  day's  work,  because  the  aged  packman,  who  had 
followed  afoot,  must  be  awaited.  While  the  chief  of 
the  expedition  was  enjoying  a  bath  in  the  cool  water, 
the  guide  speared  several  large  pickerel.  The  carrier 
came  into  camp  about  sunset.  We  decided  to  take  him 
as  far  as  the  Mississippi. 

Two  trips  across  the  lake  next  morning  were  neces- 
sary to  carry  over  our  party  and  stores.  The  creek 
had  become  very  shallow  and  clogged  with  grass,  and 
the  way  to  the  third  lake  was  most  tortuous.  Two  of 
us  walked  along  the  banks  of  the  first  and  second  lakes. 

The  last  of  the  pretty  lakelets  is  known  to  Sioux 
and  Chippewa  as  "  Kak-sha-boor-cow-mond."  In  its 
centre  is  a  grass-covered  islet,  revered  as  a  "  spirit  isle  " 
by  the  Chippewas.  Like  the  Puritan  forefathers, 
Chippewas  and  Sioux  believe  in  witchcraft:  the  Sioux 
tell  tales  of  "  were-wolves  "  encountered  or  heard  in  the 
forests.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  Chippe- 
was can  imitate  a  wolf's  howl  to  perfection.  It  is  the 
cry  they  use  on  a  trail  to  acquaint  their  companions  of 
their  whereabouts. 


138  The  Mississippi 

II AT   SPIRIT    ISLAND 

Under  strong  protest  from  the  two  packmen,  the 
guide  and  I  crossed  to  the  green  island.  After  our 
return,  the  young  Chippewa,  learned  in  the  traditions 
of  his  people,  spoke: 

You  were  on  holy  ground.  There  dwelt  a  great-great- 
granddaughter  of  the  first  pale-faced  woman.  Her  hair,  white 
as  the  birch  tree's  bark,  floated  like  a  frosty  mist  about  her 
head.  On  "  Me-ne-do-me-nis,"  as  we  name  that  isle,  is  one  of 
every  species  of  tree  between  here  and  0-mus-kose  [Itasca 
Lake],  brought  here  and  planted  by  that  gentle  spirit's  hands. 
Thus  rose  a  sacred  grove.  Across  these  waters  the  warpath 
often  led,  but  Sioux  or  Chippewa  never  profaned  this  hallowed 
spot, — as  you  have  done. 

To  which,  Ka-ba-be-zen,  aged  carrier,  did  comment, 
in  utmost  seriousness :  "  A  white  spirit  dwelt  here,  be- 
j^ond  dispute.  Men,  known  to  me,  have  seen  her  stand- 
ing on  yon  hill,  whence  she  watched  them  cross  the 
lake.  In  later  years,  voyageurs  profanely  landed  on  her 
isle  and  found  her  lodge  in  ruins.  The  gentle  spirit 
of  that  grove  had  gone  away." 

Henry  Beaulieu,  guide,  then  said: 

There  is  some  historic  basis  for  this  tradition.  The  story 
of  such  a  woman  was  told  at  Mackinaw  when  I  was  a  boy.  Her 
name  was  Temple.  She  came  to  the  Straits,  in  the  summer 
of  1835,  with  her  father,  a  Major  in  the  British  service,  long 
stationed  at  Quebec.  When  retired  for  age,  he  visited  Macki- 
naw, intending  thereafter  to  return  to  England.  The  old 
soldier  was  a  widower;  his  wife,  who  had  shared  his  active 
life  in  the  barracks  of  the  Chateau  Saint  Louis,  was  at  rest 
in  the  lofty  cemetery  at  Quebec,  near  the  tall  monument  raised 
to  both  Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

The  population  at  the  Straits  was  then  composed  of  French- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  139 

Canadians,  rather  than  English,  and  half-breeds  of  a  dozen 
tribal  affiliations.  Instead  of  a  fortnight's  stay,  the  visit 
lengthened  into  weeks.  The  girl  was  young  and  of  exalted 
imagination.  She  was  fascinated  by  the  romantic  side  of 
savage  life.  The  Indian  dances  diverted  her:  she  heard,  again 
and  again,  tales  of  the  coureurs  de  hois, — knights-errant  of  the 
wilderness.  Their  leader  was  an  expatriated  Frenchman, 
young  and  handsome  as  a  picture,  Henri  Sainte-Ange.  His 
name  was  chief  passport  to  Major  Temple's  favour  and 
brought  to  him  acquaintance  with  the  daughter.  The  young 
man  was  born  to  inspire  admiration  in  the  heart  of  a  girl 
whose  imagination  was  aglow  with  the  weirdness  of  border 
life.  The  soldier's  daughter  allowed  herself  to  be  overcome 
by  infatuation  for  this  handsome  boy  of  the  woods  and  fled 
with  him.  The  music  of  the  name,  "  Sainte-Ange,"  dulled  her 
conscience,  no  doubt. 

The  lovers,  with  two  strong  men  at  the  paddles,  had  been 
gone  two  hours  when  their  flight  was  made  known  to  Major 
Temi>le.     The  father's  rage  was  terrible. 

'^  One  hundred  guineas  to  the  crew  that  overtakes  them ! " 
he  shouted ;  and,  at  the  shore,  he  added :  "  A  guinea  to  every 
man  who  joins  the  hunt ! " 

A  score  of  canoes  were  manned.  The  pursuit  began.  Its 
course  was  out  the  Straits,  eastward,  toward  Lake  Huron, 
where,  late  in  the  day,  the  fugitives  were  descried.  In  the 
leading  boat  knelt  the  girl's  father,  toiling,  like  a  maniac,  at 
his  paddle.  The  chase  grew  furious,  for  the  sun  was  low; 
all  had  fear  that,  after  dark,  the  guilty  pair  might  escape 
and  the  reward  be  lost. 

The  lovers  beheld  the  vengeance  that  pursued.  Crouching 
in  the  coureur's  canoe,  repentant  and  in  tears,  was  she.  As 
soon  as  his  voice  would  carry  to  the  hunted,  the  soldier's 
threat  to  the  abductor  was  heard. 

"  You  die,  you  dog ! "  he  shouted. 

The  evening  breeze  bore  the  challenge  to  Sainte-Ange;  he 
acted  under  the  forest  code.  At  a  sign  from  him,  his  paddlers 
stopped.  He  stood  to  his  full  height  and  awaited  the  onset 
of    the    guinea-grabbing    pack.      When    distance    served,    he 


I40  The  Mississippi 

brought  his  rifle  to  his  eye,  and,  with  sure  aim,  shot  Major 
Temple  dead !  The  veteran's  body  tumbled  out  the  boat !  The 
game  had  rendered  the  hunter! 

The  daughter's  horror  was  too  deep  for  tears.  The  panting 
crews  from  Mackinaw,  kneeling  at  their  places,  were  silent. 
All  prospect  of  reward  was  gone  and,  in  the  twilight,  the 
paddlers  turned  their  faces  homeward. 

The  rest  of  this  history  [continued  Beaulieu]  I  had 
from  Monsieur  Boulonger,  who  lives  on  the  eastern  bay  of 
Winnebagoshish  Lake,  in  our  direct  route  to  Pokegama  Falls : 

Sainte-Ange  dared  not  return  to  Mackinaw,  fearing  trial 
and  punishment;  so  he  carried  his  prize  to  the  Chippewa 
country,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior.  This  meant  fifteen  days 
under  paddle,  through  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and  along  the 
southern  shore  of  the  great  lake  to  the  present  site  of  Duluth. 
The  ascent  of  the  river  Saint  Louis,  with  its  foaming  rapids 
and  tiresome  portages,  consumed  another  week.  Thence  to 
Sandy  Lake,  on  the  Mississippi. 

Sainte-Ange  was  no  longer  a  hero  to  the  soldier's  daughter : 
she  covered  him  with  maledictions.  Neglect,  reproach,  and 
ill-usage  were  encompassed  in  the  winter  and  spring  that 
succeeded.     Then  came  another  grief, — a  child  was  born. 

Before  the  river  froze,  Sainte-Ange  descended  the  Missis- 
sippi, through  the  French  Rapids,  and  passed  the  winter  at 
a  Chippewa  village  where  Crow  Wing  now  stands.  His  "  white 
squaw,"  hopeless  and  remorseful,  was  shunned  by  all  women 
of  the  tribe.  The  curse  of  her  father's  death  was  said  to  be 
upon  her. 

In  the  spring  of  183G,  Sainte-Ange  set  out  for  Pembina 
[continued  the  guide].  Ascending  the  St.  Peter's,  he  portaged 
over  the  familiar  trail  into  a  branch  of  the  Red  River  of  the 
North.  Several  stages  were  made  toward  Greater  Winnipeg. 
His  party  camped  one  night  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wild  Rice 
River.  There  the  craven  adventurer  deserted  the  woman  and 
his  child.  Frantic  in  her  despair,  Madame  Sainte-Ange  gath- 
ered provisions  and  set  out  alone  in  a  small  canoe  which  had 
been  left  for  her.  She  turned  its  prow  up  the  Wild  Rice  River, 
only   because   it   led  eastward :   after   days   of   hardship,   she 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  141 

reached  this  lake.  She  did  not  know  that  she  was  within 
five  miles  of  "  The  Father  of  all  Running  Waters "  that 
would  have  carried  her  to  the  sea.  That  island,  over  there, 
became  an  abode  of  penitence.  She  built  a  lodge,  no  doubt, 
as  she  had  seen  them  built;  she  had  learned  to  call  a  spark 
from  the  flint,  and  lived  upon  roots  and  fish.  The  child  prob- 
ably succumbed  during  the  first  winter.  The  mother's  end 
could  not  have  been  long  deferred. 

Word  for  word,  as  the  guide  spoke,  less  tersely  than 
above,  the  younger  Chippewa,  beneficiary  of  a  mission 
school,  translated  the  story  to  his  companion.  When 
he  had  finished,  the  aged  carrier  shook  his  head. 

"  It  is  a  white  man's  tale;  and  false,"  said  he,  "  for 
spirits  never  die! " 

III ^THE  MISSISSIPPI 

Crossing  the  Spirit  Lake  in  relays,  the  final  five- 
mile  tramp  to  the  bank  of  the  stream  I  was  to  follow 
to  the  Gulf  of  JMexico  began.  This  is  the  famous 
A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen  portage,  a  route  between  the 
Upper  Mississippi  and  the  Red  River  of  the  North 
known  to  the  Dakotas  and  ChippcM^as  for  generations. 
A  clearly  marked  trail  led  for  two  miles  through  dense 
pine  woods,  thence  into  a  tamarack  swamp, —  a  dreary 
journey.  We  could  not  cover  more  than  one  mile  an 
hour  in  the  swamp. 

About  five  o'clock,  we  emerged  from  a  tangled  mass 
of  hazel  and  willow  bushes  into  a  pretty  meadow  a 
mile  wide,  through  which  meandered  a  sluggish  stream 
eighteen  feet  in  breadth, — the  [Mississippi! 

While  pitching  camp,  we  were  overtaken  by  a  young 
man  and  woman,  brother  and  sister.  They  came  from 
White   Earth.     The    girl,    sweetheart    of   the   missing 


142  The  Mississippi 

Kelh%  was  typical  mate  for  a  "  timber-cruiser."  When 
the  people  at  the  JNIission  abandoned  the  search,  she 
set  out.  There  was  n't  any  romance  in  her  nature. 
Compelling  her  brother's  co-operation,  they  started  a 
day  after  us,  but  less  encumbered,  travelled  more 
rapidly.  They  made  their  camp  for  the  night  near 
ours  and  shared  our  supper  of  "  slugs," — dough  boiled 
in  water  in  ^vhich  bacon  had  been  prepared.  Excellent, 
if  hungry!  When  we  separated,  after  breakfast,  the 
girl  held  out  a  small,  brown  hand  and  asked : 

"  You  '11  look  for  him,  I  'm  sure?  " 

"  Indeed,  we  shall,"  I  promised,  little  thinking  how 
real  that  pledge  would  become. 

"We  shall  go  down-stream  to  Lake  Pemidji;  then 
we  shall  return  to  the  Itasca  region  by  the  east 
branch  and  'do  up  '  these  hills.  I  '11  stay  till  I  find 
him." 

We  watched  that  brother  and  sister  launch  their 
bark  canoe,  and  we  waved  a  farewell  as  they  disap- 
peared, down-stream,  round  the  first  bend  of  the  young 
Mississippi. 

Until  a  survey  fixes  upon  a  map  the  exact  location 
at  which  the  A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen  portage  terminates 
on  the  JNIississippi's  bank,  one  has  difficulty  in  estimat- 
ing its  distance  below  the  outlet  of  Itasca  Lake.  The 
aged  carrier,  before  he  left  us,  reckoned  it  at  sixteen 
miles;  but  almost  three  days'  struggle  with  nature  that 
followed  led  me  to  think  the  distance  twice  that  much. 
Nicollet  locates  this  point  forty  miles  down-stream  from 
Itasca, — as  good  a  guess  as  any.  After  we  had  reached 
the  goal,  my  guide  calculated  the  journey  at  twenty-six 
miles.     Personally,  I  have  n't  an  opinion. 

The  general  direction  M'as  south.     After  the  first 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  143 

day's  paddling  up-stream,  rapids  were  encountered, 
around  which  the  boat  had  to  be  carried.  Stretches  of 
canoeable  water  were  rare.  We  often  had  to  tramp  for 
hours  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  because  progress  along 
its  banks  was  impossible.  This  journey  was  attended 
with  many  hardships.  Among  the  hills,  on  the  third 
day,  the  stream  was  strewn  with  boulders;  our  supplies 
had  to  be  packed  in  relays.  The  guide  laid  out  a  new 
trail  along  what  appeared  to  have  been  a  former  bed  of 
the  river,  carrying  our  route  across  a  strip  of  tamarack 
and  through  ^  a  birch  forest.  This  "  cut-off "  saved 
a  detour  in  the  bed  of  the  rock-and-tree-gorged 
creek. 

Beaulieu  was  master  of  his  trade,  a  true  coureiir  de 
hois.  He  "  blazed  "  this  trail  so  that  it  w^as  as  plain 
to  him  as  Broadway.  It  was,  nevertheless,  a  lonesome 
forest  path.  During  these  days,  not  an  animal  of  the 
squirrel  kind  was  seen:  not  a  bird  sang  at  dawn  or 
a  cicada  chirped  at  nightfall.  We  found  plenty  of 
game  lower  down  the  long  river,  but  in  the  Itasca 
wilderness,  we  absolutely  saw  nothing  to  shoot  and  must 
have  starved  had  we  depended  upon  hunting.  Fish  are 
not  plenty  in  Itasca  Lake  although  the  Chippewa  did 
succeed  in  spearing  a  few  pickerel  during  our  stay. 
His  method  was  to  go  out  after  dark,  with  a  roll  of 
birch  bark  ablaze  upon  a  j)ole  of  green  wood  projected 
over  the  bow  of  the  canoe. 

When  heart-breaking  climbing  over  boulders  and 
fallen  timber  in  the  channel,  and  slow,  discouraging 
tramps  through  quagmires  and  pathless  underbrush 
along  the  river  banks  brought  us  to  the  crest  of  the 
hills,  gravelly  stretches  of  water  were  met  and  ultimately 
a   depth   in  which   the   canoe   could   be    floated.     The 


144  The  Mississippi 

ascent  of  that  eight  or  ten  miles  of  the  Mississippi  is  not 
a  job  for  "  a  quitter  "! 

When  the  trees  broke  away  and  the  last  rays  of  an 
afternoon  sun  were  discernible  ahead,  in  the  open,  we 
felt  that  a  large  lake  was  not  far  away.  It  could  not 
be  anything  else  than  Itasca.  The  Mississippi  not  far 
below  Itasca  is  veiy  picturesque,  as  the  frontispiece  to 
this  volume  proves. 


rv — ITASCA 

The  boat  was  dragged  through  what  proved  to  be 
the  last  rapid,  and  in  great  expectancy  we  climbed  in. 
Rounding  a  bend  in  the  almost  currentless  stream,  which 
had  broadened  to  forty  feet  and  bore  every  evidence  of 
back-water  from  a  large  pond,  we  emerged  into  the 
north  arm  of  Itasca  Lake.     We  had  arrived ! 

The  prospect  from  the  outlet,  looking  eastward  (as 
shown  by  a  recent  photograph)  is  not  thrilling.  The 
north  arm  of  Itasca  is  half  a  mile  broad  and  its  eastern 
shore  rises  to  a  bluff  of  twenty-five  feet.  At  the  time 
of  my  visit,  it  had  a  background  of  soft-wood  trees, 
with  a  few  pines.  The  loneHness  of  the  entire  landscape 
was  appalling. 

Below  the  outlet,  on  a  grassy  slope,  we  camped  for 
the  first  night,  preferring  to  select  a  better  site  on  the 
following  morning.  We  were  worn  out  and  hungry 
after  a  day  spent  in  climbing  the  hills,— probably  not 
more  than  seven  or  ten  miles.  While  the  guide  was 
preparing  supper,  the  Chippewa  and  I  paddled  a  short 
distance  down  the  lake  and  selected  a  camping  site  to 
which  we  could  move  on  the  following  day.     It  was  a 


The  Ontlcf  of  Itasca   Lake,  1!)()4. 
(Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection.) 


The  .Mouth  of  I'.oiitwell  ('rook,  West  Shore  of   Itasca   Lake 
(Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection.) 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  145 

dry  knoll  on  the  western  shore,  reached  through  a  fringe 
of  grass. 

As  this  trip  occurred  hefore  the  introduction  of  the 
kodak,  recent  pictures  of  the  scenery  of  the  Itasca  re- 
gion and  of  the  Mississippi  have  been  made  by  special 
photographers  or  supplied  by  Commissioner  Brower 
and  by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  The  recent 
death  of  J.  V.  Brower  is  most  lamentable.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  to  Itasca,  the  landscape  did  not  con- 
tain a  house  or  wigwam,  or  any  evidence  of  human 
visitation.  There  were  no  clearings,  as  shown  in  recent 
photographs.  A  government  survey  M^as  not  attempted 
until  three  years  later, — probably  ordered  by  an  official 
of  the  United  States  Land  Office,  after  the  indifference 
shown  toward  the  region  had  been  set  forth  in  my 
correspondence. 

Leaving  the  Chippew  a  with  directions  to  move  camp 
down  the  w^estern  shore  of  Itasca  about  three  quarters 
of  a  mile,  to  the  place  selected  the  previous  evening, 
the  guide  and  the  writer  began  the  first  real  excursion 
on  Itasca  Lake.  Out  in  the  north  arm,  my  first  thought 
was  to  look  for  the  island  mentioned  by  Schoolcraft 
and  Nicollet.  At  first,  it  could  not  be  separated  from 
the  background;  but  in  a  little  time  the  reason  w^as  ex- 
plained. A  headland  shut  it  from  view.  When  that 
had  been  turned,  Schoolcraft  Island  came  plainly  into 
sight;  but,  as  we  were  looking  at  its  narrow  end,  it 
appeared  insignificant  in  size.  Some  stiff  paddling, 
against  a  strong  breeze,  blowing  up  the  lake,  landed 
us  upon  its  rocky  shore.  It  does  not  exceed  five  hund- 
red feet  in  length  and  I  walked  over  its  area,  despite 
underbrush  and  its  rock-strewn  surface.  The  guide 
thought  the  season  too  early  for  snakes,  but  he  agreed 


146  The  Mississippi 

with  me  that  it  was  promising  snake-land.  These  two 
acres  of  rocky  ledge  contain  many  fine  trees;  but  the 
surface  is  grown  M'ith  thorns  and  brush.  No  evidences 
of  camp-fires  were  visible;  there  was  not  a  sign  of 
recent  visitation.  Nicollet,  I  remembered,  had  camped 
elsewhere.  The  exact  location  of  the  island  is  shown 
in  the  first  government  survey,  made  by  Edwin  S.  Hall, 
in  1875,  and  published  in  1876. 

In  shape,  Itasca  Lake  most  nearly  resembles  a 
three-pronged  starfish, — the  eastern  arm  slightly  longer 
than  the  other  two.  Its  extreme  length  is  three  and 
one  sixth  miles.  Mr.  Brower  "  chained  "  it  upon  the 
ice.  The  most  picturesque  view  of  the  sparkling  water 
is  had  from  Schoolcraft  Island,  looking  south-west. 

M.  Nicollet  fixed  the  altitude  of  the  surface  of  Itasca 
Lake  at  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
feet;  but  Mr.  Brower,  in  1891,  corrected  these  figures 
to  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven  feet.  The 
elevation  was  confirmed  by  heavy  frosts  on  the  June 
mornings  during  our  stay.  One  expects  to  find  Nature 
at  her  best  in  that  merry  month ;  but  in  the  Itasca  region 
April  weather  continues  through  ]May  and  June.  Al- 
though it  does  not  imf)ress  a  visitor  as  a  land  suited 
to  tender  sprouts,  some  of  the  vegetation  has  tropical 
rankness.  The  days  are  noticeably  longer  than  in  lower 
latitudes  ;^  but  the  sun  shines  in  such  half-hearted  fashion 
that  the  waters  of  the  lake  retain  the  chill  with  which 
they  come  from  the  springs. 

The  first  day  was  devoted  to  an  exploration  of  the 
eastern  arm  of  Itasca  Lake.  Passing  through  the 
channel  on  the  eastern  side  of  Schoolcraft  Island,  we 
paddled  round  a  grass-lined  promontory,  jutting  from 
the  north-eastward,  into  a  reedy  bay  of  considerable 


The    lOnst    Ann   of    Itiiscn    Lake. 
(Looking   North   fi-om   the   Soutliern    KntL) 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  147 

size,  which  terminated  in  a  morass  of  wild  rice.  A  small 
stream  enters  this  bay. 

From  this  estuary,  the  east  coast  line  was  examined 
southward.  The  beach  is  gravelly,  always  grassy,  and 
the  forest  comes  down  to  the  shore.  Its  tall  trees  are 
well  shown  in  the  photograph.  Three  landings  were 
made  at  gullies  that  might  have  been  mouths  of  small 
streams;  but  hills  rose  from  the  shore  and  a  few  rods 
of  tramping  in  each  instance  dispelled  any  supposition 
that  permanent  bodies  of  water  existed  above.  I  sought 
in  vain  for  evidences  of  continued  use  of  the  two  trails 
by  which  Schoolcraft  and  Nicollet  had  portaged  to 
Itasca  fix)m  the  eastern  branch  and  from  Leech  Lake, 
respectively.  Forty  years  of  disuse  had  obliterated  all 
traces  of  them. 

Not  a  rivulet  enters  the  eastern  arm  of  Itasca,  ex- 
cept at  the  extreme  south-eastern  end.  There  a  small 
stream  comes  down  a  gulty.  Disembarking,  I  walked 
up  that  ravine  to  the  top  of  a  rise,  at  which  point  the 
brooklet  became  insignificant.  I  saw  no  signs  of  a  pond 
beyond;  but  recent  official  sui*veys  show  a  small  one 
half  a  mile  to  the  southward.  I  did  not  "  discover " 
it.  Hopewell  Clarke's  experience  was  similar  to  mine. 
In  the  rainy  season,  this  creek  doubtless  sends  con- 
siderable water  into  Itasca. 

The  coast  line  of  the  x^romontory  that  obtrudes  it- 
self from  the  southward  into  Itasca  was  laboriously 
scrutinised.  It  does  not  contain  an  inflowing  creek. 
The  west  shore  of  this  east  arm  occupied  much  of  the 
afternoon:  it  is  generally  reed-grown.  Here  was  seen 
the  finest  timber  between  Itasca  and  Pemidji  Lake, 
— where  the  right  bank  of  the  ^lississippi,  amid  its  Ten 
Rapids,  is  absolutely  superb  in  its  woodland. 


148  The  Mississippi 

A  tired  party  returned  to  camp  that  evening. 

V A  NEW  LAKE 

The  second  day,  June  9th,  was  devoted  to  the  west 
arm  of  Itasca.  During  the  forenoon,  the  real  find  of 
the  trip  was  made.  In  paddhng  southward  from  the 
new  camp,  we  deviated  from  the  direct  course  to  make 
a  brief  second  visit  to  Schoolcraft  Island;  but  it  lay 
in  shadow,  because  the  sun  had  not  yet  climbed  above 
the  tree  tops  on  the  eastern  hills.  In  going  thence 
toward  the  west  arm,  we  must  have  passed  in  close  prox- 
imity to  a  submerged,  rocky  shoal,  discovered  by  a  gov- 
ernment sun^eying  party  in  after  years,  but  we  did  not 
detect  it.  Its  presence,  however,  accounts  for  surpris- 
ingly shallow  soundings  obtained  in  that  part  of  Itasca. 

We  began  the  day's  work  at  the  Avestern  point  of 
the  promontory, — recently  christened  by  Commissioner 
Brower  "  Ozawintib  Point," — and  found  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  west  arm  to  possess  reed-grown  character- 
istics similar  to  those  of  the  western  beach  of  the  east 
arm.  The  bluff  is  the  same  height,  but  large  trees  ap- 
peared to  be  fewer.  At  the  southern  end,  however,  the 
land  back  of  the  rushes  sloped  down  to  a  swamp, — one 
of  the  same  old  tamarack  quagmires  we  knew  so  well. 
Crowding  our  way  along  the  edge  of  the  grass,  in  a 
reedy  cove,  I  saw  an  unmistakable  current  entering 
Itasca.  A  clogged  watercourse  was  distinguishable  in 
the  rank  sod  of  the  tamarack  bog  beyond  the  grass:  it 
had  the  distinctive  character  of  a  perennial  stream, — 
the  outlet  of  a  storage  reservoir. 

The  canoe  had  been  lightened  of  all  luggage,  ex- 
cept the  gun,  and  carried  only  provisions  for  the  mid- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  149 

day  meal:  nevertheless,  fallen  saplings  and  shallow 
water  rendered  progress  slow.  The  boat  had  to  be 
lifted  over  logs  and  much  brush  had  to  be  dragged  out 
the  watery  path.  After  a  half-hour's  tedious  progress 
up  this  crooked  stream,  we  found  unmistakable  back- 
water and,  climbing  into  the  boat,  soon  paddled  from 
the  shade  of  overhanging  boughs  into  a  chamiing  lake- 
let. It  is  more  than  a  mile  long  and  nearly  as  broad, 
although  it  did  not  look  so  large  in  the  bright  morn- 
ing sunlight.  Here  is  a  sizable  lake  certainly  not  seen 
by  Schoolcraft,  who  never  entered  the  west  arm  and 
only  spent  a  few  hours  at  Itasca.  Nor  is  this  deep 
reservoir  mentioned  by  Nicollet,  even  after  the  most 
liberal  interpretation  is  given  to  his  language. 

This  charming  body  of  clear  water  lies  in  a  deep 
bowl,  formed  by  low  hills  on  the  east,  a  ridge  on  the 
west  ending  in  a  swamp.  Southward  are  two  swamps, 
but  into  the  lake  from  that  direction  projects  a  prong 
of  dry  land,  dividing  the  sheet  of  water,  somewhat  like 
Itasca,  into  two  bays.  Crossing  to  the  western  bay, 
the  canoe  was  pushed  up  a  large  creek  that  entered  at 
that  point.  Although  the  swampy  valley  was  narrow, 
obstructions  were  such  that  I  soon  left  the  boat  and 
tramped  or  waded  a  considerable  distance,  probably  a 
mile,  without  finding  any  other  lake.  The  forest  in 
that  locality  is  so  thick  that  I  could  not  see  the  "  Heights 
of  Land  "  lying  to  the  southward.  Returning  to  the 
canoe  and  to  the  lake,  we  paddled  into  the  eastward  of 
the  two  bays,  which  had  been  clearly  noticeable  while 
crossing  the  water.  Among  the  rushes  at  its  extreme 
end,  we  found  a  smaller  stream  than  the  one  before 
visited  and  a  short  tramp  along  the  eastern  edge  of 
the  marsh  soon  brought  me  to  a  little  pond.     Further 


150  The  Mississippi 

examination  of  the  south-eastern  shore  disclosed  only 
an  inconsequential  creek.  Some  tentative  soundings 
were  taken  with  a  trolhng-line  but  the  depths  found 
along  the  eastern  shore  were  not  great.  Subsequent 
investigation  has  shown  this  lake  to  be  much  deeper 
than  Itasca,  proving  it  to  be  a  separate  bowl.  Sound- 
ings of  sixty-five  feet,  made  by  the  ^Mississippi  Com- 
mission, are  frequent.  Of  the  streams  flowing  into  the 
lake,  the  one  entering  the  west  bay  appeared  to  the 
writer  the  most  important,  although  INIr.  Clarke  differs 
with  this  opinion.  A  small  brook  on  the  west  side  has 
since  been  named  after  A.  H.  Siegfried. 

Without  consciousness  of  important  achievement,  I 
playfully  called  this  lakelet  "  Dolly  Varden,"  intending 
at  a  future  time  to  rechristen  it  "  Lake  Lincoln,"  in 
honour  of  the  martyred  President;  but,  although  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  conceded  the  original  dis- 
covery to  me.  General  James  H.  Baker,  then  Surveyor- 
General  of  the  State,  was  directed  from  Washington, 
wisely,  no  doubt,  to  transfer  to  the  newly  discovered 
lake  the  name  originally  borne  by  Itasca,  namely, 
"  Omoskos,"  or  "  Elk."  Such  act  might  be  assumed 
to  indicate  that  the  government  authorities,  at  Wash- 
ington, beheved  the  lakelet  to  be  the  "  true  source."  ^ 
J.  V.  Brower,  Itasca  Park  Commissioner  and  official 
representative  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  set 

1  Regarding  the  choice  of  this  name,  Henry  D.  Harrower,  of  Ivi- 
son,  Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Co.,  who  sent  Mr.  Clarke  to  make  a  special 
survey,  after  the  Glazier  fiasco  of  1881,  says  in  the  preface  to  the 
Clarke  report:  "The  former  surveyor-general  of  Minnesota,  who  had 
charge  of  the  government  land-office  at  St.  Paul,  states  that,  act- 
ing in  accordance  with  general  instructions  from  the  government,  he 
transferred  the  name  from  the  larger  lake,  which  Schoolcraft  had 
called  *  Itasca,'  to  the  smaller  in  order  to  retain  the  designation 
originally  used  by  the  Indians." 


('hainber.s  rix'ok,  (Vmiiectiii.u-  n;isc;i  with  I-:ik  Lake.     (  i:ik  I.akr 

in    llie   DislaiKc.i 

(Copyright,  1909,  by  H.  D.  Ayer.) 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  151 

forth  the   Society's  decision  on  page   98,   volume   xi., 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections: 

Discoveries  at  the  Source 

Earliest  Probable  Occupants, rrehistoric. 

Earliest  Known  Occupants, Aboriginal. 

First  Known  of  White  Men,    .     .     William  Morrison,  1803. 

First  Authentic  Discovery,  Lake 

Itasca, H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  1832. 

Second  Authentic  Discovery,  Prin- 
cipal Stream, J.  N.  Nicollet,  1836. 

Third   Authentic   Discovery,   Elk 

Lake, Julius  Chambers,  1872. 

Fourth      Authentic      Discovery, 

United  States  Survey,     ....     Edwin  S.  Hall,  1875. 

Fifth  Authentic  Discovery,  Spe- 
cial Survey, Hopewell  Clarke,  1886. 

Returning  to  the  outlet  of  the  lake,  I  disembarked 
and  ascended  a  hill  thirty  feet  high,  from  which  the 
waters  of  Itasca  were  visible  through  trees  along  its 
shore.  Hardly  four  hundred  feet  separated  the  two 
bodies  of  water,  indicating  that  the  stream  connecting 
them  was  tortuous.  The  presence  of  a  bluff  on  each 
side  of  the  narrow  outlet  of  the  smaller  lake — hardly 
a  rod  separating  the  two — precludes  the  assumption 
that  the  two  bodies  of  water  were  united  in  1836,  other- 
wise than  by  the  present  stream.  Hopewell  Clarke, 
C.  E.,  has  authorised  me  to  quote  from  his  report  and 
to  reproduce  his  sketch  map,  made  in  1886,  fourteen 
years  after  my  visit.  Incidentally,  the  map  explains 
why  I  originally  described  the  stream,  since  named 
"  Chambers  Creek  "  by  Commissioner  Brower,  as  tra- 
versing a  tamarack  swamp  its  entire  distance  from  Itasca 


152  The  Mississippi 

Lake.     First,  I  reproduce  Mr.  Clarke's  survey  of  the 
locahty,  as  found  in  his  report  (page  11)  : 

One  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  our  work  was  the 
survey  and  examination  of  the  narrow  strip  of  land  between 
Lake  Itasca  and  Elk  Lake.  We  found  it  to  be  350  feet  wide 
at  the  narrowest  point  between  the  lakes,  and  520  feet  meas- 
uring along  the  crooked  trail  at  the  base  of  the  knoll.  The 
lakes  run  nearly  x^^i'^l^^l  for  1020  feet,  and  the  strip  of  land 
contains  in  all  about  10  acres. 

The  portion  showTi  as  hilly  on  the  plat  is  a  small  mound- 
like elevation,  nearly  devoid  of  all  timber,  which  rises  with 
a  gradual  slope  south  from  Lake  Itasca  to  a  height  of  33  feet, 
and  descends  abruptly  to  the  shore  of  Elk  Lake.  Its  direction 
between  the  lakes  is  nearly  east  and  west.  Its  height  above 
Lake  Itasca  at  its  western  base  is  10  feet,  where  it  is  less 
than  100  feet  wide;  and  thus,  if  each  lake  were  a  little  higher 
in  elevation,  they  would  at  this  point  be  within  100  feet  of 
each  other.  The  highest  point  on  the  trail  between  the  two 
lakes  is  12  feet.  The  ridge  extends  to  the  outlet  of  Elk  Lake, 
from  which  point  Lake  Itasca  is  in  full  view.  Another  hill 
rises  to  the  east  of  the  outlet,  leaving  an  opening  12  feet 
wide,  through  which  the  stream  flows  with  a  rapid  current, 
in  a  channel  6  feet  wide  and  6  inches  deep.  The  balance  of 
the  land  between  the  two  lakes,  on  either  side  of  the  creek, 
is  a  tamarack  swamp. 

The  outlet  of  Elk  Lake  flows  nearly  north-east  80  feet,  and 
enters  the  tamarack  swamp,  where  its  general  direction  is  north 
for  GOO  feet,  until  it  reaches  a  point  within  110  feet  of  Lake 
Itasca.  It  then  curves  back  toward  Elk  Lake,  and  finally 
enters  Lake  Itasca,  its  whole  course  from  Elk  Lake  measuring 
1084  feet.  Where  it  debouches  into  Lake  Itasca,  it  is  7  feet 
wide  and  8  inches  deep.  We  noted  its  width  at  numerous 
places  in  its  course,  and  found  it  to  vary  from  0  to  12  feet, 
and  its  depth  from  2  to  8  inches.  It  gains  nothing  from  springs 
along  its  route,  and  its  increased  width  and  depth  are  caused 
by  back  water  from  Lake  Itasca.  It  is  a  very  jiretty  little 
stream,  and  has  been  cleared  out  by  the  Indians.     The  dif- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  153 

ference  in  elevation  between  the  two  lakes  is  1  foot  and  1 
inch.  The  stream  between  the  lakes  falls  6  inches  between 
Elk  Lake  and  a  point  where  it  enters  the  tamarack  swamp,  in 
the  first  hundred  feet  of  its  course;  the  balance,  7  inches, 
measures  the  fall  in  its  course  through  the  tamarack  swamp 
of  nearly  1000  feet. 


A  sketch  map,  by  Mr.  Clarke,  is  on  opposite  page. 

One  thing  particularly  noticeable  about  Elk  Lake, 
namely,  its  great  depth,  has  been  mentioned.  In  Itasca, 
soundings  rarely  exceed  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet,  while 
in  Elk  Lake  they  are  generally  twice  as  deep.  The 
aged  tamaracks  in  the  swamp  between  Itasca  and  Elk, 
as  well  as  the  two  points  of  land,  confirm  a  belief  that 
the  lakes  have  never  been  one  since  the  original  sub- 
sidence of  the  w^aters, — as  special  pleaders  for  Nicollet 
argue.  One  of  the  streams  emptying  into  Elk  Lake 
extends  southward  therefrom  two  miles  to  the  region 
of  the  shallow  ponds  on  higher  ground,  so  clearly  shown 
in  the  map  of  the  Itasca  State  Park.  The  most  ac- 
curate charts  recently  made  do  not  show  communicating 
watercourses  between  many  of  these  lakes  and  ponds. 
The  writer  of  this  volume  has  not  any  personal 
jealousies  to  exploit.  To  him,  the  Elk  Lake  trip 
is  a  delightful  memory,  unmarred  by  a  single  un- 
friendly thought.  He  was  in  search  of  health,  not 
glory. 

When  camp  was  regained,  after  most  of  a  day  spent 
in  sight  of  the  sparkling  lakelet  to  the  southward,  in- 
cluding a  refreshing  splash  in  its  waters,  Itasca  looked, 
after  sundown,  as  forbidding  as  Lethe's  stream.  Sleep, 
but  not  a  bath  therein,  brought  forgetfulness  to  a  tired 
canoeman. 


154  The  Mississippi 

VI — NICOLLET^S  CREEK 

Great  honour  belongs  to  Jean  N.  Nicollet  for  re- 
searches he  made  in  the  narrow  valley  west  of  Elk  Lake. 
The  writer  of  this  volume  had  read  Nicollet's  official 
report,  also  his  preliminar}'-  one,  before  starting  on  this 
trip.  "  The  Cradled  Hercules  "  had  not  inspired  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  its  discoverer  had  endowed  it. 
An  inspection  of  its  mouth,  on  the  morning  following 
the  day  spent  at  Elk  Lake,  sufficed  to  dampen  such 
ardour  as  he  might  have  felt.  That  creek  belongs  to 
M.  Nicollet!  When  expert  civil  engineers,  like  Hope- 
well Clarke  and  J.  V.  B rower,  cannot  reconcile  vital 
features  in  Nicollet's  survey,  special  correspondents 
would  best  keep  off.  The  mouth  of  the  creek  was  in- 
significant in  1872,  compared  with  its  aspect  since  a 
lumber  dam  has  been  built  at  the  outlet  of  Itasca 
(1903). 

Its  present  appearance,  from  a  recent  photograph, 
is  shown  in  the  picture. 

The  work  of  M.  Nicollet,  in  1836,  has  been  so  thor- 
oughly followed  up  by  Hopewell  Clarke,  in  1886,  and 
J.  V.  B rower,  in  1891-96  and  1901,  that  their  reports 
have  been  given  precedence,  out  of  chronological  order, 
in  the  chapter  on  M.  Nicollet  (IX.).  These  gentle- 
men make  out  a  better  case  for  the  French  explorer 
than  he  does  for  himself.  This  may  have  been  due  to 
unfamiliarity  with  our  language,  although  that  explana- 
tion never  has  been  offered. 

Coasting  the  west  beach  of  the  w^est  arm  of  Itasca, 
after  leaving  the  mouth  of  "  The  Cradled  Hercules," 
a  thousand  yards  of  paddling  brings  one  to  an  estuary, 
into   which   a   small   stream   flows   from   a   tamarack 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  155 

forest,  having  its  sources  in  springs  at  the  base  of  the 
bluffs,  half  a  mile  back  from  the  lake.  (Commissioner 
Brower  named  it  "  Boutwell  Creek,"  after  the  guest  of 
the  Schoolcraft  party.)  This  is  the  last  feeder  to 
Itasca  Lake. 

yil— ^DOWN  THE  YOUNG  MISSISSIPPI 

The  descent  of  the  river  to  the  A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta- 
gen  portage  is  play  compared  with  the  ascent.  The 
canoe  was  readily  dropped  through  the  Kakab-ikans 
Rapids  by  the  guide  and  Chippewa  walking  in  the 
stream,  each  holding  an  end.  The  first  affluent  of  the 
jMississippi  enters  it  from  the  west.  In  the  series  of  dis- 
mal gorges,  where  the  river  tumbles  over  huge  boulders, 
darts  around  sharp,  rocky  corners,  and  gurgles  over 
fallen  logs,  boat  and  provisions  were  packed.  It  is  a 
region  of  evil  omen. 

Much  lighter  in  equipment  than  when  w^e  ascended 
the  hills,  I  had  only  my  knapsack  to  carry.  At  the 
end  of  a  toilsome  afternoon,  we  encountered  the  guide's 
newly  made  trail,  which  left  the  river  to  our  right-hand 
and  traversed  a  defile  into  a  region  of  tamarack.  Near 
its  northern  end,  w^e  had  left  a  cache  of  provisions,  of 
which  we  w^ere  now  in  need.  Cache  is  hardly  the  word, 
because  a  bag  of  flour  and  of  salt  fish  had  been  fast- 
ened to  a  sapling,  "  ridden  down  "  by  the  native  and 
then  allowed  to  return  to  its  natural  position  with  our 
stores  at  its  top.  The  guide  insisted  that  we  push  ahead 
to  that  point  before  camping  for  supper.  JNIuch  fa- 
tigued, I  demurred;  but,  in  the  woods,  a  guide  speaks 
by  authority.  He  explained  that  a  young  bear,  able 
to  climb  a  sapling,  might  get  our  provisions.     The  sun 


156  The  Mississippi 

was  above  the  horizon,  as  I  sat  down  to  rest.  Guide 
and  Chippewa  were  told  to  go  ahead;  I  was  confident 
of  my  abihty  to  overtake  them.  I  fell  asleep  instantly: 
when  I  awoke,  twilight  had  begun.  I  transcribe  my 
experiences,  as  written  that  night  in  the  log-book : 

Hurrying  along  the  new  trail,  I  cover  half  its  length 
before  darkness  renders  invisible  the  axe-cuts  upon  the 
trees.  Very  soon,  I  am  wandering  among  scrubby 
pines  and  tamaracks,  out  of  sound  of  the  river.  Turn- 
ing eastward  to  regain  the  stream,  I  stumble  over  en- 
tangling roots  and  sink  into  bog-holes.  T)ry  wood  for 
a  fire  is  not  to  be  had;  I  am  not  woodsman  enough  to 
light  a  strip  of  birch-bark.  Not  an  echo  returns  my 
shouts.  One  cartridge  remains  in  my  revolver;  but  I 
dare  not  use  it  to  fire  a  signal  of  distress.  Climbing 
the  hills,  the  guide  had  pointed  out  trees  torn  by  bears' 
claws,  a  trivial  incident  in  his  company. 

A  shower  bursts,  accompanied  by  lightning  and 
thunder.  Camp  lay  north-west,  from  one  to  three  miles, 
— dependent  upon  my  wanderings.  The  shadow  of  a 
hill  looms  up  and  I  follow  its  base,  hoping  to  reach 
the  river  bank.  I  ask  no  greater  boon  than  to  hear  its 
waters  again.  Into  the  tamaracks,  over  treacherous  sod 
that  hides  bog-holes, — doubling  on  my  tracks!  Dan- 
gerous to  go  forward:  equally  so  to  remain  where  I 
am.  My  companions  may  not  find  me,  and  that  means 
starvation! 

Exhausted  with  fatigue  and  anxiety,  under  dripping 
boughs,  I  stand  stock  still  and  listen.  In  all  my  world, 
the  only  sound  is  rain!  In  indescribable  loneliness,  I 
shiver  with  nervousness,  or  chill.  I  remember  the  lost 
timber-cruiser.  What  if  I  meet  him,  crazed  with 
hunger!     In  growing  dread,  I  dare  not  shout  for  aid. 


./.■^-vv,-l:lil 


A  MiiHicsola  Foirst. 
(Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection.) 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  157 

A  new  sound!  Not  rain,  although  the  drip,  drip, 
drip  from  the  water-laden  houghs  goes  on.  Not  tlie 
movement  of  man  or  animal;  surely,  not  the  rustling 
of  leaves?  'T  is  running  water  I  hear:  the  way  to  the 
river  is  mine! 

A  few  yards  distant  is  the  tiniest  of  brooklets,  hail- 
ing me  in  Nature's  own  sweet  language  of  hope.  Its 
voice  is  low  at  the  brush-formed  cascade  from  which 
it  calls,  but  its  word  is — "  Thoroughfare !  " 

Into  the  channel  of  that  tiny  creek,  lest  it  elude 
me  in  the  dark:  a  physical  contest  with  tangled  boughs 
and  bushes  soon  brings  me  to  the  Mississippi.  Here, 
also,  the  river  bed  is  easiest  route.  At  a  bend  in  the 
watery  path,  the  glare  of  my  camp-fire  flashes  up. 

I  find  it  deserted:  guide  and  packman,  alarmed  at 
my  non-arrival,  are  seeking  me,  in  true  chivalry  of  the 
forest. 

VIII — PEMIDJI^  CASS^   AND   WINNEBAGOSHISH 

The  descent  of  the  Mississippi  through  the  three 
large  lakes  of  the  watershed  above  Pokegama  Fall  is 
crowded  with  sensational  incidents.  When  the  meadow 
land  is  reached,  the  river  becomes  tortuous  but  amply 
deep  for  paddling.  During  forenoon  of  the  third  day 
after  leaving  Itasca,  we  passed  our  camp  site  at  the 
end  of  the  White  Earth  route.  Only  a  short  distance 
farther,  a  real  mystery  of  our  voyage  was  met. 
A  new,  birch-bark  canoe  was  found  overturned  in 
the  stream.  It  had  been  fitted  for  a  single  occu- 
pant. The  inside  was  blackened,  as  by  an  explosion  of 
powder.  It  had  caught  in  roots  at  the  riverside.  In- 
stinctively, we  thought  of  the  missing  timber-cruiser. 


158  The  Mississippi 

The  guide  gave  as  his  opinion  that  a  gun  or  powder 
flask  had  exploded  in  that  boat. 

We  camped  that  night  upon  a  smooth  bit  of  sod, 
under  a  sheltering  maple  tree.  Next  morning  we 
entered  a  broader  prairie  and  passed  two  short  bits 
of  very  rapid  water.  On  the  left  bank,  a  creek  of 
considerable  size  joined  the  river.  It  drains  a  lake 
not  far  inland  and  is  known  as  "  Pinnididiwin," — an 
abbreviation  of  Jali-pinuniddi'ijcin,  "  place  of  violent 
deaths."  "  Once  upon  a  time,"  the  people  of  a  Chip- 
pewa village  on  the  shores  of  the  lakelet  were  massacred 
by  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Sioux.  Age  and  youth 
were  not  respected:  captives  were  put  to  death  with 
tortures.  Our  Chippewa,  responsible  for  this  state- 
ment, pointed  out  a  tree  into  which  a  squaw  of  his 
people  had  climbed,  to  hide  among  the  foliage.  She 
was  the  only  woman  that  escaped.  'My  informant  said 
the  Chippewas  thought  the  ability  of  a  squaw  to  climb 
a  tree  so  wonderful  that  this  woman  had  been  deified. 
Tree  climbing  is  utterly  unnatural  to  an  Indian,  he 
explained.  The  importance  of  this  lake  outlet  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  reckoned  to  be  one  hundred  miles 
from  Itasca. 

We  camped  that  night  in  a  forest  of  pine  and  birch. 
The  duty  of  making  "  smudges,"  or  smouldering  fires 
to  smoke  out  mosquitoes,  fell  to  me:  the  guide  soon 
had  a  roaring  fire  and  supper.  It  was  chiefly  of 
"  slugs," — dough,  roughly  torn  into  pieces  and  boiled 
in  water  with  the  last  piece  of  our  salt  bacon.  The 
product  was  tough  as  rubber  and  hea\y  as  lead;  but 
when  one  is  hungry,  *'  slugs  "  are  highly  edible. 

We  started  at  four  o'clock  next  morning,  in  dense 
fog  and  raw  weather  until  the  sun  got  high.     The  Mis- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  159 

sissippi  kept  in  the  forest;  the  sceneiy  was  of  exceeding 
picturesqueness.  Sometimes,  the  river  encroached  upon 
hills  and  created  bluffs  fifty  feet  in  height.  In  such 
cases,  a  broad,  sandy  bank  formed  upon  the  opposite 
side.  No  noticeable  increase  in  the  size  of  the  Missis- 
sippi occurs  until  junction  with  the  eastern  branch, 
coming  from  lakes  JNIarquette,  La  Salle,  Plantagenet, 
Assawe,  and  other  small  ponds.  Each  branch  is  about 
forty-five  feet  wide.  The  volume  of  water  from  this 
stream  is  larger  tlian  that  of  the  main  river,  and  more 
than  doubles  it  in  size.  (This  opinion  differs  from 
Schoolcraft's.)  Below  the  junction,  the  right  bank  be- 
comes a  beautiful  grove  of  maple,  oak,  and  beech.  On 
the  left,  the  land  rises  to  a  knoll  and  stray  hemlocks 
are  seen.  The  river  has  a  straight  stretch  of  about  half 
a  mile  at  this  point.  Woodland  shifts  to  the  left  bank ; 
the  right  merges  into  a  swamp  of  reeds,  cat-tails,  hazel 
bushes,  and  scrub  poplars.  The  stream  soon  enters  a 
marsh  and  a  sharp  turn  to  the  right  landed  us  in  the 
smaller,  or  southern,  section  of  Lac  Travers  (Pemidji  ^ 
Lake). 

Little  Pemidji  is  a  handsome  sheet  of  water.  Dark 
forests  of  pine  are  seen  to  the  east,  but  the  soft  woods 
on  the  western  hills  are  of  inferior  character.  Our 
course  across  this  lakelet  to  the  channel  into  the  larger 
body  was  N".  one  point  E.,  and  the  distance  is  one  and 
one  quarter  miles.  These  two  lakes  were  pix)bably 
connected  by  a  brook,  but  they  are  to-day  practically 
one  sheet  of  water,  separated  only  by  a  narrow  strip 

1  Since  this  region  has  been  invaded  by  railroads,  Pemidji  is  often 
spelled  Bemidji.  A  town  of  that  name,  on  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 
road, has  been  established.  The  writer  prefers  to  retain  the  original 
Chippewa  spelling,  without  any  philological  discussion. 


i6o  The  Mississippi 

of  low  land,  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  beech  and 
poplar.  The  view  of  Greater  Pemidji,  as  one  enters 
from  the  inlet,  is  impressive.  The  lake  is  probably 
seven  miles  long  by  four  in  breadth  and  has  everj^  sign 
of  being  deep.  In  the  distance,  the  north  shore  ap- 
peared to  be  a  high  bluff,  surmounted  by  fine  forests. 
The  north-eastern  beach  is  swampy,  but  the  land  soon 
rises  into  a  wooded  plateau,  pines  predominating.  The 
western  shore  is  of  yellow  clay.  We  dined  on  the 
northern  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  just  where  it  leaves 
Pemidji;  a  hemlock  there  bears  the  Greek  letter  "delta." 

The  Mississippi  flows  placidly  out  Pemidji,  through 
a  grove  of  tow^ering  hemlocks  on  the  right:  so  clear  is 
the  water  that  the  pebbly  bottom  can  be  seen  at  a  depth 
of  eight  or  ten  feet.  Fish  are  plentiful  and  our  Chip- 
pewa speared  many  of  them.  At  the  end  of  a  mile 
comes  a  change.  A  series  of  dangerous  rapids  follows 
one  another  so  closely  that  there  is  not  breathing  space 
between  them.  They  are  called  the  !Metoswa,  or  Ten, 
Rapids :  we  counted  seven.  The  river  has  now  increased 
to  such  volume  as  to  render  rapids  dangerous  to  the 
craft  that  carries  us.  The  destruction  of  one's  canoe 
in  the  wilderness  is  almost  as  serious  as  loss  of  musket 
or  cartridges.  In  the  third  rapid,  where  the  roaring 
stream  makes  a  sharp  turn  to  the  right  and  tears  down- 
ward among  rocks  for  fifteen  hundred  yards,  the  Chip- 
pewa steered  us  into  the  wrong  channel  and  our  boat 
was  so  seriously  broken  that  we  got  ashore  with  diffi- 
culty, for  repairs.     An  hour  sufficed  to  cure  the  leaks. 

The  remaining  rapids  were  less  troublesome.  At 
one  of  them,  the  river  expanded  to  such  width  that 
the  water  was  too  shallow  for  our  heavily  loaded  canoe. 
Chippewa  and  guide  stepped  overboard  and  directed 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  i6i 

the  course  of  the  boat.  At  the  foot  of  this  rocky  stair- 
way, the  Mississipj)i  resumes  its  placidity  and,  after 
winding  through  a  fine  forest  of  poplar,  oak,  and 
pine,  expands  into  a  lake, — the  first  of  three.  The 
scenery  at  times  is  wild  and  picturesque.  The  three 
lakelets  are  in  a  vast  meadow  and  their  shores  are  reedy. 
The  smallest  is  one  mile  in  width.  In  the  largest,  which 
is  twice  as  broad,  we  were  treated  to  a  hail-storm  that 
badly  battered  us.  The  icy  balls  were  large  as  filberts. 
Some  were  an  inch  in  diameter;  all  were  of  milky 
whiteness.  They  fell  in  such  quantities  that  the  lake 
seemed  a  bubbling  cauldron.  Severe  as  were  bruises 
upon  wrists  and  shoulders,  the  scene  was  both  curious 
and  interesting.  Our  Chippewa  insisted  that  many 
ducks,  quail,  and  pigeons  would  be  killed  by  the  hail, 
but  we  looked  for  feathered  victims  in  vain.  The 
storm  was  followed  by  a  double  rainbow  of  resplendent 
charm. 

Cass  Lake  looks  like  a  large  body  of  water  upon 
the  map;  but  islands  are  so  numerous  therein  that  it 
can  be  navigated  without  hazard  in  canoes  in  all 
weathers.  We  stopped  for  a  brief  space  at  a  Pillager 
teepee  on  Grand  Island;  then  proceeded  to  the  mouth 
of  Turtle  River,  where  we  arrived  at  dark.  This  is 
the  point  at  which  David  Thompson,  the  English  trader, 
and  Beltrami,  the  Italian  voyageur,  encountered  the 
Mississippi. 

Turtle  River  is  a  large  stream,  and  Governor  Cass 
can  hardly  be  blamed  for  thinking  it  the  continuation 
of  the  Mississippi.  He  stopped  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle 
River.  There  is  a  village  of  twent}^  lodges  on  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  river's  mouth,  but  at  the  time  of  our 
visit  all  the  men  were  awa}^  hunting.     The  women  were 


i62  The  Missjssippi 

sociable.  In  return  for  a  j)air  of  moccasins,  bestowed 
upon  a  young  native  woman,  I  was  invited  to  go  fire- 
fishing  that  night  at  a  small  lake  a  few  miles  northward 
on  Turtle  River.  The  courtesy  was  declined;  but  the 
art  of  attracting  fish  by  a  flambeau  and  spearing  them 
as  they  come  to  the  surface  to  look  at  the  torch  has  at- 
tained a  high  degree  of  perfection  among  the  Pillager 
women.  This  tribe  of  the  Chippewa  nation  was  at  one 
time  larger  than  any  other.  In  Schoolcraft's  day,  there 
were  eight  hundred  families  about  Leech  and  Cass  lakes. 
When  I  visited  the  village  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  River, 
there  were  less  than  one  hundred  bucks,  squaws,  and 
pappooses  attached  to  that  settlement.  The  Chippewa 
nation  gave  to  the  Red  Cedar  (Cass)  Lake  tribe  the 
name  Muk-im-dua-win-in-e-wTig  ("men  who  take  by 
force"),  of  which  "Pillager"  is  an  admirable  trans- 
lation. They  were  named  by  the  natives,  but  the 
philologist  who  Anglicised  their  title  understood  the 
English  language.  My  fishing-tackle  and  cooking 
utensils  disappeared,  as  by  magic.  Whenever  we 
served  a  meal,  a  bunch  of  old  women  sat  down  to  eat 
with  us.  But  these  Cass  Lake  Pillagers  were  the  first 
living  people  we  had  seen  since  parting  with  the 
"  timber-cruiser's "  mate,  many  days  before,  and,  for 
that,  we  forgave  much. 

That  was  Minnesota  in  1872. 

After  the  natives  had  partaken  of  three  meals  on  our 
provisions,  all  served  before  noon,  I  ordered  a  start. 
We  first  moved  across  to  the  eastern  bank  of  Turtle 
River's  mouth;  but  in  fifteen  minutes  ten  squaws  and 
three  times  as  many  boys  and  girls  rejoined  us.  The 
river  is  forty  feet  broad  and  the  current  very  swift. 
There  must  be  a  ford  somewhere.      My  visitors  had 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  163 

taken  off  their  single  garments  and  carried  them  on 
their  heads,  because  their  clothing  was  not  wet.  We 
bade  farewell  to  Turtle  River  in  the  middle  of  the  after- 
noon. The  outlet  of  the  lake  was  attained  at  four 
o'clock. 

The  Mississippi  is  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet 
wide  where  it  leaves  Cass  Lake,  and  has  become  a 
majestic  stream.  This  stretch  of  the  river,  almost  to 
Lake  Wiimebagoshish,  will  always  be  remembered  with 
great  delight:  it  is  a  succession  of  handsome  villa  sites, 
without  villas.  The  banks  rise  in  gentle  slopes  to  a 
plateau  forty  feet  high;  a  sod  of  lawn-like  smoothness 
is  underfoot;  the  giant  Norway  pines  do  not  keep  out 
the  sunlight  and  not  a  shrub  of  underbrush  is  seen. 
Each  bend  in  the  river  develops  a  charming,  grassy 
knoll;  all  that  is  lacking  are  houses  and  people. 

One  mile  of  the  JNIississippi,  before  it  enters  Lake 
Winnebagoshish, — the  Victoria  Nyanza  of  the  American 
river, — can  be  saved  by  a  portage  directly  into  the  lake 
at  a  point  where  the  stream  approaches  within  a  hund- 
red yards  of  the  large  body  of  w^ater;  but  darkness 
admonished  us  to  remain  in  the  boat. 

As  we  emerged  from  the  river's  mouth  upon  the 
broad  expanse  of  the  lake,  moon  and  stars  were  re- 
flected in  the  water.  The  weather  was  clear  and  cool. 
We  hugged  the  west  coast  and  very  nearly  suffered 
disaster  by  running  ashore,  under  full  headway.  A 
tall  tree,  silhouetted  against  the  sky,  was  assumed  to 
be  upon  an  island,  but  it  marked  the  extremity  of  a 
narrow  spit  of  land  that  runs  a  quarter  mile  into  the 
lake.  Rounding  that  point,  we  landed  at  the  mouth 
of  a  small  stream,  and  passed  the  night  in  an  abandoned 
trading  post.      The  memorable  feature  of  that  house 


164  The  Mississippi 

was  its  wall-paper.  Two  sides  of  the  interior  were 
covered  with  pages  from  a  folio  Bible! 

;Mr.  Schoolcraft  says  he  found  pelicans  on  this  lake ; 
we  did  not  see  any.  Our  first  daylight  look  at  the  great 
lake  and  its  ten  miles  of  open  water,  which  must  be 
crossed  in  a  frail  canoe,  was  almost  terrifying.  A  gale 
was  blowing  from  the  eastward,  which  continued  for 
forty-eight  hours.  Heavy  surf  dashed  upon  the  beach 
and  the  broad  expanse  of  this  miniature  sea  was  white 
^vith  foam.  We  were  "  wind  bound  "  two  days.  On 
the  third  morning,  we  crossed  Winnebagoshish, — a  very 
unpleasant  experience  and  probably  the  most  dangerous 
incident  in  my  entire  trip  on  the  river.  A  squall  oc- 
curred near  the  middle  of  the  lake  and  a  heavy  swell 
developed.  Constant  bailing,  which  duty  fell  to  me, 
alone  prevented  the  boat  from  swamping.  With  much 
relief,  we  ran  into  smooth  water  in  a  narrow  estuary 
that  extends  to  the  south-eastward, — a  small  replica  of 
Green  Bay,  Wisconsin.  On  the  shore,  at  this  point, 
stood  the  hut  of  an  aged  French  trader,  Boulanger. 

Three  miles  of  paddling  down  the  river  after  leav- 
ing the  bay  brought  us  to  a  smaller  lake,  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  reeds.  (At  this  point  the  United  States 
Government  has  recently  built  a  dam,  shown  in  the 
picture.)  A  portage  exists  at  the  south-eastern  shore 
of  this  lake,  leading  to  the  Ball-club  Lake.  The  saving 
of  distance  would  have  been  considerable,  but  we  fol- 
lowed the  river,  intending  to  make  White  Oak  Point 
trading  post  before  dark. 

We  were  soon  in  The  Eagle's  Nest  Savannah,  thirty 
square  miles  of  meadow,  covered  by  a  foot  of  water. 
A  novice  might  readily  get  lost  in  this  vast  shallow  lake 
of  waving  grass,  because  the  river  channel  is  difficult 


The  Wiiiiu'haiiosliisli   Kcservoii-  Dam. 

(Minnesota  Historical   Society  Collection.) 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  165 

to  follow.  Stalks  of  wild  rice,  resembling  wheat,  rise 
six  feet  above  the  water  and  as  a  canoeist  pushes  them 
aside  to  effect  passage  they  envelop  him  in  their  writh- 
ing embrace.  A  compass  is  necessary,  for  the  only 
visible  outlook  is  the  sky.  Despite  the  best  of  guid- 
ance, we  got  astray  among  the  grass  and  sacrificed 
much  time  in  regaining  the  channel.  Leech  Lake  River 
enters  the  JNIississipi^i  from  the  westward  through  this 
meadow  and,  for  that  reason,  the  volume  of  water  it 
supplies  is  difficult  to  estimate. 

Darkness  had  fallen  when  we  landed  at  White  Oak 
Point,  where  the  progress  of  a  lively  game  of  "  Mocca- 
sin "  was  made  manifest  by  a  dirge-like  chant,  issuing 
from  a  wigwam.^ 

The  sceneiy  between  White  Oak  Point  and  Poke- 
gama  Fall  is  truly  picturesque.  Hills  rise  abruptly 
from  the  river  and  forests  crown  them.  Alternately 
traversing  dense  woodland  and  pretty  valleys,  the  half 
day's  paddling  to  the  lumber  camp  at  the  mouth  of 
Pokegama  Lake  remains  a  pleasant  memory.  The 
group  of  huts,  where  dwelt  the  Maine  lumbermen, 
seemed  a  return  to  civilisation, — the  first  habitation  of 
white  men  encountered  since  leaving  White  Earth.  We 
were  soon  enjoying  salt  pork,  which  is  exceedingly 
appetising  after  a  long  diet  on  fresh  fish,  pigeons  and 
ducks.  Two  nights  and  a  whole  day  were  j)assed  with 
these  genial  hosts;  the  only  return  I  could  make  was 

1  Hennepin,  Description  de  la  Louisiane,  Paris,  1693  (Shea's 
translation,  301),  gives  a  clear  account  of  the  Indian  game  of  "  Plum 
Stone."  It  was  played  as  craps  are  thrown  to-day  with  dice.  The 
plum  pits  were  marked  and  the  better  had  an  even  chance  at  guessing 
which  side  fell  upward.  The  game  of  "  Moccasin,"  which  I  found 
to  be  the  Chippewa  gambling  game,  is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the 
Jesuit  "  Relations  "  so  far  as  noticed. 


i66  The  Mississippi 

to  act  as  bearer  of  mail  to  the  nearest  post-office,  at 
INIuddy  River,  or  Aikin,  about  three  hundred  miles 
down-stream. 

The  morning  we  left,  the  j^oung  woman  with  whom 
we  had  parted  in  the  Itasca  foot-hills  paddled  into 
camp,  attended  by  her  brother.  They  were  much  ema- 
ciated and  worn;  but  the  girl  appeared  glad  to  have 
overtaken  us.  In  simple  language,  she  told  how  they  two 
had  hurried  down-stream  from  the  A-ze-wa-wa-saj^-ta- 
gen  landing  to  the  mouth  of  the  Marquette  River  and, 
examining  every  timber  tract,  had  ascended  it  to  the 
dividing  ridge  between  Leech  and  Itasca  lakes.  Cross- 
ing to  the  latter,  they  had  followed  us  along  the  rocky 
river  bed.  They  had  seen  many  trees  blazed  by  me 
with  the  Greek  letter  "  delta,'*  for  "  Delta  Kappa  Epsi- 
lon," — although  the  girl  called  it  "  a  triangle," — and 
had  used  our  camp  sites  on  more  than  one  occasion. 
Among  the  Itasca  hills,  they  had  found  the  body  of 
the  timber-cruiser.  Records  of  his  discoveries  were  in 
his  i-ubber  tobacco-pouch,  placed  there  by  this  faithful 
servant,  in  face  of  death. 

"  We  found  him,  as  I  said  we  would,"  were  her 
w^ords,  with  a  long  sigh,  "  but  dead." 


IX — POKEGAMA  TO  ST.   ANTHONY 

The  Mississippi  above  Pokegama  Fall  narrows  to 
sixty  feet  in  width.  Restricted  to  these  limits  by  a 
rocky  bluff  on  the  northern  side,  the  river  slides  down 
the  face  of  a  limestone  ledge,  over  twenty  feet  in  height 
and  standing  at  an  angle  of  thirty-five  degrees.  It  is 
not  a  "  fall,"  in  strict  sense.     Where  the  water  takes 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  167 

the  "  toboggan,"  the  stream  was  divided  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  by  a  mass  of  rock,  upon  which  a  few  spruce 
pines  clung  with  surprising  tenacity;  not  an  ounce  of 
soil  was  visible, — the  trees  doubtless  drew  their  sus- 
tenance from  the  river.  This  obstructing  rock  has  been 
removed.  Rapid  water  at  the  top  of  the  fall  had  to 
be  crossed  to  reach  the  portage;  the  prospect  of  in- 
voluntarily "  shooting  the  chute "  was  not  pleasant. 
A^Tiy  the  carry  was  not  made  on  the  right  bank  was  not 
explained. 

The  Pokegama  portage  is  less  than  two  hundred 
yards  and  easy.  This  fall  is  an  impenetrable  barrier 
to  navigation  bj^  small  steamers,  until  the  government 
builds  a  series  of  locks  around  it.  Thrice  each  summer, 
in  my  day,  a  stern-wheeler  of  the  type  that  "  runs  in 
a  heavy  dew  "  came  up  from  Aiken  with  supplies  for 
the  lumber  camps  and  trading  posts;  but  to-day  rail- 
roads have  penetrated  to  the  locality.  A  prosperous 
town  has  developed  at  Grand  Rapids,  four  miles  below 
Pokegama,  at  the  "  Thundering  Rapids."  The  United 
States  Government  has  erected  a  barrage  near  that 
point,  for  the  control  of  the  river. 

Pokegama  Lake,  five  miles  long,  having  its  outlet 
at  the  head  of  the  fall,  was  the  site  of  one  of  the  mis- 
sions located  in  the  ^lississippi  lake  region  during  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  centurj^.  Hither  came  Rev. 
Frederick  Ayer,  from  ^lassachusetts,  in  1836,  and  upon 
the  natives  that  gathered  about  this  sanctuaiy  the 
Sioux  fell,  in  1840,  to  avenge  wrongs  thej''  claimed  had 
been  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  Chippewas.  Their 
principal  complaint  was  that  two  of  Little  Crow's  sons 
had  been  murdered.  The  Chippewas  insisted  that  the 
young  men  had  been  killed  in  self-defence.     When  the 


1 68  The  Mississippi 

Sioux  were  known  to  be  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  Chip- 
pewas  sent  their  women  and  children  to  an  island  in 
Pokegama  Lake  and  beat  off  their  ancient  enemies. 
The  winter  of  1850-51  at  Cass,  Leech,  Pokegama,  and 
Sandy  lakes  was  one  of  great  suffering.  The  crop  of 
wild  rice  had  been  very  poor  the  preceding  fall  and 
starvation  existed  in  all  native  villages.  Chippewas  ate 
their  children. 

Experienced  woodmen,  who  had  made  the  trip,  es- 
timated the  distance  from  Pokegama  to  Sandy  Lake  at 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles:  we  easily  traversed  it  in 
.  two  days,  camping  the  first  night  at  Split-Hand  River, 
after  a  run  of  sixty-eight  miles.  We  ran  through  the 
"  Thundering,"  or  "  Grand,"  rapids  and  the  river  main- 
tains a  strong  current  all  the  distance.  It  was  a  long, 
uninteresting  trip,  through  an  alluvial  region,  its  timber 
worthless  for  any  purpose  except  fuel. 

Starting  from  Split-Hand  camp  at  five  o'clock,  un- 
der a  blue  sky,  we  soon  entered  a  region  of  pine  forest. 
Flocks  of  pigeons  rose  at  every  bend  of  the  river;  we 
bagged  a  large  mess.  A  few  ducks  were  overtaken, 
but  they  were  of  the  "  hell-diver  "  variety  and  difficult 
to  shoot. 

An  entirely  new  danger  menaced  us.  The  river 
abounded  in  floating  logs  on  their  way  to  the  saw-mills 
at  Minneapolis.  Landing  for  breakfast,  at  the  mouth 
of  Swan  River,  our  Chippewa  stepped  upon  a  nest  of 
small  snakes,  the  first  we  had  encountered.  His  fright 
was  surprising;  one  would  have  supposed  that,  raised 
in  the  forest,  an  Indian  would  not  entertain  unfriendly 
feelings  for  fellow-citizens  of  the  wilderness.  A  charge 
of  shot  put  the  snakes  out  of  suspense,  but  the  native 
belaboured  the  nest  for  several  minutes.      We  break- 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  169 

fasted  sumptuously  upon  pigeons  and  biscuits,  with  salt 
pork,  brought  from  the  lumber  camp. 

Swan  River  is  a  large  stream,  entering  the  Missis- 
sippi on  the  eastern  bank  and  is  navigable  for  canoes 
ninety  miles,  due  north  to  Swan  Lake.  During  the 
forenoon's  progress,  the  track  of  a  tornado,  locally 
described  as  "  a  windfall,"  was  passed. 

We  slejDt  that  night  at  the  mouth  of  Sandy  Lake 
River,  upon  the  floor  of  JNIr.  Libby's  historic  trading 
post.  *'  Libby's  "  has  been  known  for  three  generations 
as  the  point  of  portage  for  the  "  Big  Sea  Water " 
(Lake  Superior),  reached  by  descending  the  turbulent 
St.  Louis  River.  The  eastward  trip  is  made  in  two 
days;  the  westward  in  three,  owing  to  the  dalles  of  the 
St.  Louis.  Sandy  Lake  is  a  body  of  water  three  miles 
across  and  contains  many  small  islands. 

From  Sandy  Lake  to  Muddy  River  was  an  easy 
day's  run.  Two  stretches  of  rapid  water  were  en- 
countered between  the  mouths  of  Cypress  and  Willow 
rivers.  The  latter  stream,  about  forty  miles  below 
Libby's,  possesses  historical  importance  because  Lieu- 
tenant Zebulon  M.  Pike  ascended  it  when  he  visited 
Leech  Lake  in  1805.  The  forests  are  dense,  but  their 
timber  is  worthless  for  lumber.  Muddy  River  to 
Brainerd  occupied  one  day.  The  River  of  the  Pines, 
two  hundred  feet  wide,  enters  the  ^lississippi  from  the 
north  and  an  island  divides  its  waters  at  the  mouth. 
Pine  ridges  are  supplanted  by  bottom-land,  growing 
elm,  ash,  oak,  and  maple.  Tall,  slender  trees,  recalling 
the  cypress  but  really  Lombardy  poplars,  that  have 
been  numerous,  become  more  and  more  scarce  until  they 
disappear  from  the  landscape.  Five  miles  below  Pine 
River  are  six  islands.     Beltrami,  always  classical,  named 


170  The  Mississippi 

the  centre  one  "  Cythrea."  He  says,  in  describing  the 
place,  "  Only  a  temple  is  wanting  to  make  of  it  another 
Cythrea  " — the  island  of  Venus.  The  French  Rapids 
were  hardly  noticeable,  owing  to  high  water.  This 
swift  spot  is  about  twenty  miles  above  Brainerd  and 
marks  the  northern  limit  of  that  tract  of  primitive  rock 
described  as  "  iiet'iies  roclies."  The  mouth  of  a  stream 
known  as  the  Nokassippi  enters  the  JNIississippi  at  the 
end  of  those  rapids.  Twilight  was  settling  over  Brain- 
erd as  a  landing  was  made  under  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  bridge. 

We  had  returned  to  civilisation.  There  my  Troy- 
built  Baden-Powell  canoe  awaited  me.  The  guide  and 
Chippewa  carrier  were  paid  off  and  sent  by  rail  to  Oak 
Lake  station.  Next  afternoon,  I  paddled  alone  to  Fort 
Ripley,  where  I  became  the  guest  of  its  Commandant, 
Captain  McCaskey. 

Next  day  was  a  strenuous  one,  during  which  I  parted 
with  my  long-while  companions,  the  pines.  Little  Falls, 
jammed  with  logs,  w^as  portaged.  A  waggon  can-ied 
the  trim  canoe  through  the  village  to  a  point  below  the 
rough  water.  Pike  Rapids  were  "  run,"  owing  to  wil- 
ful misinformation  regarding  landmarks  of  the  ap- 
proaches to  that  dangerous  stretch  of  river.  I  had 
been  advised  to  watch  for  an  island  with  two  trees  upon 
it,  and  to  go  ashore  on  the  western  bank:  but  when 
I  passed  the  island,  the  speed  of  the  current  precluded 
all  possibility  of  making  a  landing.  If  attempted,  I 
would  be  drawn,  side  on,  into  the  foaming  rapid.  The 
"  falls  "  are  caused  by  ledges  of  rock,  many  sharp  points 
serving  to  tear  the  stream  into  ribbons.  Safety  lay  in 
a  try  at  the  deepest  looking  watery  chute.  Sitting 
astride  the  canoe,  behind  the  cock-pit, — as  I  remembered 


St.   Anthony    Fall. 
From  a  photogcraph  taken   in  1872. 


S^.l  I 


4-^ 


^^aum 


.  ^.i^ 


A  \'ie\\    ..I    I'. .11    >iiri,,i,- 

and    llu'   Oi-iuinal    Si 
Photo,    in   1872 


li,.\\  111-    llic    linuiid   llou.se 


(icKadc. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  171 

MacGregor  did  on  the  Rob  Boij, — to  raise  the  how,  I 
steered  straight  for  the  erest  of  a  l)ig  roller  that,  ap- 
parently, hid  a  smooth-topped  houlder.  Fortunately, 
the  canoe's  keel  hore  a  strip  of  steel,  for,  at  railroad 
speed,  it  struck.  The  shock  was  tremendous,  but  the 
crew  clung  by  his  heels,  as  he  would  have  done  to  a 
bare-back  horse.  A  barrel  of  water  w  as  taken  aboard ; 
but  as  there  was  a  recurrence  of  rapids  for  half  a  mile, 
bailing  was  impossible.  There  M^as  not  any  danger, 
but  an  upset  would  have  entailed  loss  of  property. 
Great  sport! 

The  land  became  prairie.  I  camped  on  a  small 
island,  only  separated  from  the  west  bank  by  a  narrow 
channel;  but,  hearing  the  bark  of  a  dog,  I  launched  the 
boat  in  search  of  a  human  habitation.  It  was  found 
near  Brockway  and  I  slept  on  a  feather  bed  that  night. 
I  got  under  way  early,  and  as  a  stiff  breeze  was  blow- 
ing down-stream,  sailed  at  single  reef  for  ten  miles. 
Coming  out  from  the  end  of  an  island,  a  squall  struck 
me,  jibed  the  boom,  and  an  upset  was  narrowly  averted. 
Handling  a  main  sheet  and  steering  with  a  double- 
bladed  paddle  is  not  as  easy  as  it  looks.  Then  came 
rough  water  above  Wautab,  and  sail  had  to  be  taken 
in.  This  was  done  by  unstepping  the  mainmast.  The 
rapids  were  child's  play.  There  is  a  three-mile  bend 
in  the  river  at  this  point  at  which  a  cut-off  of  a  hund- 
red feet  would  save  the  entire  distance.  As  I  was  alone, 
I  could  not  portage,  although  the  point  had  been  clearlj' 
indicated.  Reaching  Sauk  Rapids,  I  contracted  with 
a  teamster  to  carry  me  around  the  bad  water;  but  a 
riverman  assured  me  I  could  run  through  if  I  impli- 
citly followed  his  advice,  owing  to  the  height  of  the 
stream.     He  drew  a  rough  map.     I  removed  from  the 


172  The  Mississippi 

canoe  the  sails,  the  gun,  and  everything  portable  and 
kept  faith  with  the  waggoner  by  having  him  carry  these 
articles  to  a  point  below  the  village.  I  then  walked 
to  a  landing  from  which  the  rapids  could  be  closely 
studied.  My  adviser,  the  riverman,  pointed  out  a 
place  near  the  centre  of  the  stream  where  the  water 
went  through  a  depression  in  the  rocky  ledge.  It 
looked  safe,  provided  I  could  reach  the  middle  of  the 
river,  without  being  carried  abeam  into  the  foaming 
waters.  He  advised  that  I  pull  up-stream  for  a  short 
distance. 

This  having  been  done,  the  canoe  was  headed  direct 
for  the  big  chute  in  midstream.  The  noise  of  the 
water  was  terrifying ;  but  I  went  through  without  strik- 
ing. Considerable  water  was  taken  aboard,  and  I  fear 
my  cheeks  were  a  trifle  pale  when  I  pulled  ashore  to 
get  the  traps  from  the  waggon.  Half  a  dozen  men 
who  had  accompanied  the  teamster  made  remarks  about 
my  adviser  that  were  not  complimentary.  But  they 
overlooked  the  fact  that  I  had  been  running  through 
rapids  all  way  down-stream. 

St.  Cloud,  on  a  bluff  to  the  westward,  presented  a 
charming  appearance.  Its  tall  church  spires  shone 
beautifully  in  the  sun. 

The  country  became  an  elevated  plateau  and  the 
banks  increased  in  height.  Prairie  still  exists  on  the 
eastern  bank  but  on  the  west,  where  the  land  slopes  down 
to  the  shore,  is  a  continuous  fringe  of  maples  and  pop- 
lars. These  trees  shade  the  western  bank  from  Sauk 
Rapids  to  Anoka.  The  river  swarmed  with  logs  and 
lumbermen  were  met  at  every  village.  I  stopped  for 
luncheon  at  Bailey's  at  the  mouth  of  Elk  River, — im- 
portant as  marking  the  northern  limits  of  Hennepin's 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  173 

and  Carver's  explorations.  Between  that  village  and 
Anoka  rapid  water  is  constantly  encountered. 

Anoka  is  a  snug  town  on  the  eastern  side,  at  the 
mouth  of  Rum  River,  a  stream  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
feet  wide  and  the  outlet  of  Les  Mille  Lacs,  or  Thousand 
Lakes,  as  the  large,  island-studded  pond  south  of  Aikin 
is  known.  Canoes  can  ascend  Rum  River  one  hundred 
and  ten  miles.  IMille  Lacs  was  discovered  by  Du  Luth, 
and  by  him  named  Lac  Buade  in  honour  of  Frontenac, 
Governor  of  Canada,  whose  family  name  was  Buade. 

Every  mile  developed  a  larger  quantity  of  floating 
logs  and  in  rapid  water  these  are  not  agreeable  com- 
panions. At  such  time,  one  recalls  the  fable  of  iEsop 
about  the  drifting  jars  of  earthenware  and  brass.  Al- 
ready the  stream  seemed  gathering  strength  for  its  mad 
plunge  at  St.  Anthony  and  about  four  miles  above  the 
cataract,  I  took  a  train  into  JNIinneapolis.  The  Dolly 
and  her  crew  were  soon  resting  at  the  Nicollet 
House. 

The  i)icture  shows  how  St.  Anthony  looked  at  that 
time. 

Professor  Winchell,  a  physicist  w'ho  has  made  a 
study  of  the  geology  of  the  Upper  IMississippi,  con- 
cludes that  the  cataract  at  St.  Anthony  has  w^orked 
back  from  Fort  Snelling,  eight  miles,  since  the  glacial 
period,  or  five  thousand  years,  and  that  the  time  re- 
quired to  cut  the  JNIississippi  channel  from  Cape  Girar- 
deau to  St.  Anthony  was  four  hundred  thousand  j^ears. 
The  rock  from  the  fall  down  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Wisconsin  River  is  St.  Lawrence  limestone,  and  the 
stratum  averages  two  hundred  feet  in  thickness.  Ac- 
cording to  John  Arnold  Keyes,  St.  Anthony  is  "the 
remnant  of  the  most  stupendous  cataract  the  world  ever 


174  The  Mississippi 

saw,  having  a  perpendicular  descent  of  six  hundred 
feet."  There  is  a  fall  in  the  Yosemite  Valley  ^^'ith  a 
perpendicular  drop  of  fifteen  hundred  feet  but  the 
volume  of  water  is  insignificant.  The  Victoria,  on  the 
Zambesi,  is  one  thousand  yards  wide  and  has  a  sheer 
descent  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  Therefore, 
"  if  his  [Mr.  Keyes's]  theory  be  correct,  his  statement  is 
not  exaggerated."  The  Sioux  called  the  fall  Ha-ha, 
the  "  loud  laughing  "  or  "  roaring."  The  Mississippi 
they  described,  according  to  Gordon,  as  the  Ha-ha- 
Wd-kpa,  "  River  of  the  Falls."  The  Chippewa  name 
for  the  fall  was  Ka-kd-hik-kung. 

The  cities  of  JNIinneapolis  and  Saint  Paul  are  one 
in  interest,  and  ultimately  will  be  united  under  one 
corporate  title, — just  as  are  Brooklyn  and  Manhattan. 
Opposition  to  such  union  is  shared  equally  by  the  two 
cities.  For  nearly  a  generation,  Brooklyn  balked  at 
uniting  with  New  York.  "  The  Twin-Cities,"  as  they 
describe  themselves,  are  the  immediate  market  for  the 
largest  wheat  growing  section  of  this  count^y^  The 
centre  of  INIinneapolis  is  only  seven  miles  in  a  straight 
line  from  that  of  Saint  Paul. 

Minnesota  is  larger  in  area  than  all  New  England. 
It  is  the  watershed  of  the  continent.  The  great  rivers 
that  drain  it  have  their  rise  only  a  few  miles  apart  and 
radiate  east,  north,  and  south.  The  St.  Lawrence 
drains  the  eastern  slope,  the  Red  River  of  the  North 
the  northern,  and  the  INIississippi  the  middle  and  south- 
ern sections.  The  highest  elevation  is  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  sea  level.  INIin- 
nesota  is  the  Land  of  Lakes.  Dr.  Day,  of  Saint  Paul, 
calculated  that  three  and  one  half  acres  of  every  one 
hundred  acres,  or  one  million  six  hundred  and  one  thou- 


\'i('\\    lioiii   K('(l  \\'iiiu-,   Ldokin.i!,-  Soulh. 


View   fioiii    I{;u-n    IMiill'. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  175 

sand  eight  hundred  and  forty  acres,  are  of  inland  lake 
surface. 


X FORT  SNELLING  TO  SAINT  LOUIS 

After  reposing  upon  cushions  in  the  hotel  parlour 
during  the  night,  the  Dolly  was  taken  in  a  waggon  to 
the  river  front  at  the  southern  end  of  Minneapolis  and 
launched.  Passing  the  mouth  of  Minnehaha  Creek, 
I  was  able  to  paddle  nearly  up  to  the  fall ;  a  short  walk 
was  necessar}^  Returning  to  the  Mississippi,  the 
frowning  and  picturesque  heights  of  Fort  Snelling 
dominated  the  landscape.  This  imposing  and  romantic 
fortress,  sole  reminder  of  the  long  struggle  with  man 
and  nature  for  possession  of  the  North-west,  is  still 
calculated  to  cause  a  heart-thrill.  Its  white  stone  walls 
cling  to  the  brink  of  a  precipitous  cliff,  and  over  all, 
upon  a  tall  staff,  floats  the  flag  of  our  country.  The 
entrance  of  the  Minnesota  River,  at  Mendota,  a  Dakota 
word  for  "meeting  of  the  waters,"  is  very  imposing; 
the  mouths  of  the  INIissouri  and  Ohio  surpass  the  Min- 
nesota in  volume  but  not  in  scenic  effect.  Finding  a 
favouring  breeze,  the  mast  was  stepped  and  a  speedy 
sail  to  Saint  Paul  followed.^  One  of  the  rowing  clubs 
offered  the  hospitality  of  its  boat-house  and  the  crew 
rested  at  a  hotel  for  two  days. 

The  Mississippi  scenery  between  Saint  Paul  and 
Keokuk  is  as  beautiful  as  that  of  any  river  in  the  world. 
The  Hudson  has  higher  mountains,  the  Rhine  its  his- 
toric ruins,  the  Seine  its  artistic  chateaux,  the  Danube 
its  "  Iron  Gates,"  and  the  Colorado  its  canon ;  but,  for 

■i  Carver's  cave,  at  Saint  Paul,  was  known  to  the  Dakotas  as  "  the 
sacred  lodge"   (Neill,  207).     It  is  now  a  beer  cellar. 


176  The  Mississippi 

five  hundred  miles,  our  own  greatest  river  passes 
through  a  variety  of  scenery  attractive  to  the  eye  and 
romantically  associated  with  the  early  development  of 
our  republic.  The  river  banks  below  Saint  Paul  are 
high  bluffs  on  the  east  and  beautiful  lowlands  on  the 
west. 

Leaving  the  club,  w^here  my  canoe  had  been  housed 
most  hospitably,  I  sailed  and  paddled  to  Hastings, 
thirty-two  miles,  by  one  o'clock.  Finding  a  breeze,  I 
sailed  about  two  miles  below  Prescott  where  the  w^ind 
died  out.  The  beauty  of  the  landscape  to  the  east- 
ward grew  with  each  bend  of  the  river.  Diamond 
Bluff,  the  end  of  the  day's  run,  has  for  background  a 
charming,  rocky  precipice. 

In  the  absence  of  any  breeze  next  morning,  I 
tugged  at  the  paddle  as  far  as  Red  Wing,  famous  in 
song  and  story  as  the  site  of  the  village  of  a  tribe  hav- 
ing a  chief  of  that  name.  The  town  is  prettily  located 
on  the  western  bank;  the  view  therefrom,  shown  in 
the  photograph,  is  one  with  which  the  eye  does  n't  tire. 

Then  comes  the  grand  expansion  of  the  river  known 
as  Lake  Pepin,  twenty-five  miles  long  by  three  to  five 
in  width.  Not  an  island  in  it.  High  looms  the  bare 
front  of  the  IVIaiden  Rock,  grand  in  nature  and  fasci- 
nating in  romance.  Every  passenger  upon  steamers 
and  trains  is  told  the  tale  anew.  I  heard  it  at  every 
hamlet  upon  the  lake:  it  represents  tourist  capital. 
Ever  since  the  time  of  the  Tarpeian  Rock,  precipitous 
cliffs  have  served  for  the  immolation  of  real  or  mythical 
maidens.  The  story  of  Winona's  self-destruction  gen- 
erally takes  this  form:  The  Dakotas  and  Chippewas 
were  engaged  in  bloody  warfare  about  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.     Red  Wing,  chief  of  the  Dakota 


The  Maiden  Kock,  Lake  repin. 


The  Author's  "  liadeii  Powell  "  ( 'auoe. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  177 

tribe  on  Lake  Pepin,  had  for  daughter  Winona,  tradi- 
tionally beautiful.  She  had  many  suitors  but  she  re- 
jected all  the  braves  of  her  own  people,  having  secretly 
pledged  herself  to  a  son  of  Wahnabozah,  chief  of  the 
Chippewas  and  the  hereditary  foe  of  her  father.  With 
the  opening  of  spring,  Red  Wing  called  a  council  of 
war  and  asked  the  aid  of  all  tribes  among  the  Dakotas. 
The  most  pow^erful  young  chief,  who  had  come  from 
far  up  the  Mississippi,  Wazikoota  by  name,  demanded 
Winona  for  wife  as  the  price  of  his  assistance  and  Red 
Wing  acceded  to  the  conditions. 

The  Indian  girl  had  a  stolen  interview  with  her 
Chippewa  lover,  informed  him  of  her  father's  plans,  and 
they  agreed  that  as  soon  as  the  decisive  battle  had 
been  fought  they  w^ould  meet  atop  this  rock  and  flee  to 
the  Red  River  country.  .  The  lovers  were  spied  upon, 
the  Chippewa  brave  was  pursued  and  killed.  When 
Vv^azikoota  turned  to  claim  Winona,  she  ran  to  the  edge 
of  the  cliff  and  with  a  despairing  shriek  cast  herself 
headlong  upon  the  rocks  below.  The  Indian  legend 
asserts  that  the  angry  Spirit  of  the  Lake  caused  a  great 
■wave  to  swTcp  to  the  base  of  the  hill  which,  returning, 
bore  the  bodies  of  the  lovers  to  a  grave  beneath  the 
waters.^ 

A  delightful  sail  across  the  lake  to  the  pretty  village 
of  Frontenac  followed.  Pepin  is  an  enlargement  of 
the   Mississippi  twenty-five  miles   in  length  and   no- 

1  Col.  John  W.  Bliss,  son  of  Major  John  Bliss,  U.  S.  A.,  who 
passed  his  boyhood  at  Fort  Snelling,  tells  of  having  to  tie  up  for 
two  days  in  Lake  Pepin,  at  the  base  of  "  Maiden  Rock  "  (then  called 
"The  Lovers'  Leap").  He  was  travelling  with  his  parents  to  the 
post  to  which  his  father  had  been  assigned,  on  the  stem-wheeler 
Warrior,  which  made  two  trips  each  summer  from  Saint  Louis  to 
Fort  Snelling. 


178  The  Mississippi 

where  more  than  five  miles  in  width.  Its  general  direc- 
tion is  towards  the  south-east  and  its  form  is  that  of 
an  extended  line  of  beauty.  A  range  of  low  hills  ex- 
tends into  the  lake  from  the  west  which  the  steamboat 
men  call  "  Point  No  Point,"  for  the  reason  that,  hour 
after  hour,  it  looks  like  a  headland  but  proves  to  be 
only  a  continuous  bluff.  Frontenac,  called  a  watering 
place,  is  just  below  Point  No  Point.  The  French, 
under  M.  Frontenac,  drove  the  Reynards  from  the  Wis- 
consin up  the  Mississippi  and  built  a  stockade  on  the 
west  bank  near  Point  de  Sable.  Lake  Pepin,  as  seen 
from  the  rocky  hill  above  Frontenac,  is  shown  in  the 
photograph. 

From  Frontenac,  I  again  crossed  the  lake  to  a  small 
hamlet  about  one  mile  above  Reed's  Landing  where  I 
spent  the  night.  In  the  morning,  against  a  head  wind, 
I  pulled  ten  miles  to  Wabashaw  for  breakfast. 

*'  Wah-pah-sah  "  was  the  hereditary  name  of  a  long 
and  illustrious  line  of  Dakota  ( Sioux)  chiefs.  "  Waba- 
shaw "  is  the  white  man's  pronunciation.  The  name  is 
descriptive  of  the  pole  used  in  the  Sioux  dances,  upon 
which,  like  a  May  pole,  feathers  and  coloured  cloths 
were  fastened.  Therefore,  Wapasa  meant  "The  Stand- 
ard," not  "  The  Leaf  Shaker,"  as  has  been  suggested. 
The  principal  village  of  these  aboriginal  forest  barons 
was  Ke-uk-sa,  the  present  site  of  Winona.  Stephen 
R.  Riggs,  author  of  The  Dakota  Grammar,  says,  "  Ke- 
uk-sa  means  '  Village  of  Law  Breakers,'  so  described 
because  this  band  disregarded  the  custom  of  the  Dakota 
nation  against  manying  blood  relations  of  any  degree.'* 
Wapasa,  grandfather  of  the  last  chief  of  that  name,  Mas 
a  friend  of  the  British  during  the  American  Revolution.^ 

1  Neill's  History  of  Minnesota,  225-229. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  179 

Here  was  beautiful  prairie,  still  within  the  INIinne- 
sota  border.  Here  was  the  capital  of  "  The  Standard  " 
tribe  of  the  Sioux. 

A  strong  wind  blew  against  the  current  all  day, 
making  the  paddling  laborious.  The  water  was  so 
rough  that  I  could  not  land  at  Almy  but  proceeded 
to  Buffalo,  remembered  solely  as  the  site  of  a  saw-mill 
and  a  beer-garden.  As  the  wind  increased,  so  did  the 
blisters  upon  my  hands.  Mount  Vernon,  eighteen 
miles,  was  passed  at  one  o'clock  and  a  luncheon  of  cove 
oysters,  hard  bread,  and  coffee  was  eaten  on  the  river 
side.  After  waiting  in  vain  for  the  wind  to  moderate, 
I  paddled  eleven  miles  to  Fountain  City. 

The  scenery  on  both  sides  of  the  river  is  magnificent, 
but  the  heaviness  of  the  work  at  the  paddle  prevented 
its  entire  enjoyment.  The  little  German  town  of  Foun- 
tain City  nestles  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  and  seemed  very 
comfortable  in  the  warmth  of  the  afternoon's  sun.  Al- 
though  I  had  hoped  to  reach  Winona  before  dark,  I 
spent  the  night  there  and  the  beer  tasted  as  good  that 
night  as  any  I  subsequently  have  drunk  in  INIunich. 
The  hospitality  of  the  Wisconsin  town  was  agreeable. 
My  boat  was  carried  from  the  warehouse,  where  it  had 
been  kept  under  lock  during  the  night,  and  I  started 
down  the  river  at  nine  o'clock. 

Not  far  from  Winona  is  the  picturesque  "  Sugar 
Loaf."  It  casts  a  very  heavy  shadow  across  the  river 
in  the  early  morning,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  photo- 
graph. A  sandy  beach  runs  along  its  base.  A  brief 
stop  was  made  at  Winona  to  mail  letters,  after  which 
I  paddled  to  Trempealeau. 

At  half-past  five,  I  stepped  ashore  at  La  Crosse, 
at  the  end  of  a  dashing  sail,  carrying  all  canvas,  and 


i8o  The  Mississippi 

the  much  admired  canoe  was  taken  to  the  parlour  of  the 
International  Hotel.  The  river  is  almost  four  miles 
wide  at  La  Crosse  owing  to  innumerable  islands  and 
channels.  A  start  was  made  at  six  o'clock  next  morn- 
ing. Brownsville  was  reached  at  ten  and  a  stop  for 
the  night  was  made  at  Lansing,  after  paying  a  visit 
to  the  supposed  grave  of  Minnehaha  at  De  Soto  on 
the  Wisconsin  bank. 

Lansing,  on  the  Iowa  side,  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
usual  range  of  bluffs.  The  day  was  fine  and  hugging 
the  Iowa  bank  to  avoid  numerous  channels  made  by 
countless  islands,  I  paddled  all  the  way  to  McGregor, 
opposite  Prairie  du  Chien.  The  upper  town  of  McGre- 
gor first  came  in  sight  to  the  south  of  a  long  stretch 
of  water.  The  levee  was  found  very  rocky.  After 
luncheon  at  the  Evans  House,  I  crossed  the  river  to 
Prairie  du  Chien,  the  oldest  town  on  the  JNIississippi, 
dating  back  to  the  time  of  Pere  IMarquette.  The 
modern  city  is  not  exactly  where  Father  JNIarquette 
saw  the  prairie  dogs.  At  Fort  Crawford, — "  Prairie- 
Cogtown,"  as  described  in  a  report  on  file  at  the  War 
Department, — Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  then  a  recog- 
nised Indian  fighter  and  afterwards  to  carv^e  his  way 
to  the  Presidency  by  success  in  the  JSIexican  War,  was 
in  command  for  several  years,  dating  from  1833.  He 
had  then  served  in  the  Sauk  and  Fox  campaigns. 

The  Wisconsin,  where  it  joins  the  INIississippi,  is 
imposing,  but  historical  associations  give  to  it  pre- 
eminent importance.  Very  little  imagination  was 
necessary  to  see,  in  mind's  eye,  the  figures  of  grave- 
visaged  missionaries  and  the  strong,  daring  counte- 
nances of  French  traders  in  canoes  emerging  from  the 
river's  mouth. 


Lake  IV'i.iii,  Looking  Norlli  irom  lV)in1   No  Point. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  i8i 

Below  Prairie  du  Chien,  the  scenery  hecomes  of 
picturesque  grandeur.  Lofty  bluffs  appear  on  each 
side,  some  of  rock,  others  alluvial,  having  similitude 
to  ruined  castles,  Saracen  watch-towers  like  those  seen 
upon  the  Sardinian  and  Spanish  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  grotesque  figures  of  gigantic  size. 
In  places,  these  bluffs  attain  a  height  of  six  hundred 
feet;  many  of  them  are  coloured  by  various  mineral 
deposits  and  are  often  crowned  with  clumps  of  chest- 
nut and  oak. 

I  paddled  into  Guttenberg,  Iowa,  at  dark  and  spent 
the  night  at  the  Crawford  House, — the  day's  voyage 
being  forty-six  miles.  Next  day  was  the  Sabbath  but 
there  did  not  seem  to  be  any  observance  thereof,  so, 
after  breakfast,  I  decided  to  proceed  to  Dubuque.  The 
scenery  began  to  lose  many  of  its  charms.  The 
bluffs,  cheerful  companions  since  leaving  Minneapolis, 
began  to  melt  into  the  prairie.  A  light  breeze  spring- 
ing up,  sail  was  set  and  the  fifteen-mile  run  from 
Cassville  to  Wells'  Landing  was  made  in  two  hours. 
After  a  stop  for  luncheon,  the  voyage  was  resumed 
without  incident  to  Dubuque.  In  the  afternoon  sun, 
the  church  spires  and  pretty  villas  of  this  flourishing 
city  could  be  seen  on  rising  ground  far  inland.  The 
water-side  part  of  the  town  appeared  common  enough. 
I  proceeded  down-stream  and  passed  the  night  at  a 
white  frame  cottage  on  the  Illinois  bank  where  I  was 
hospitably  received.  My  canoe  was  stored  in  the 
carriage-house. 

Next  day,  being  overcast,  with  a  fair  wind  down- 
stream, I  paddled  and  sailed  to  Sabula,  forty-eight 
miles,  without  incident.  The  following  day,  I  pro- 
ceeded as  far  as  Le  Claire,  forty-seven  miles.     An  early 


i82  The  Mississippi 

start  was  made  next  morning,  because  I  expected  to 
enjoy  running  the  Rock  Island  Rapids.  I  arrived  at 
the  head  of  the  rapid  water  about  nine  o'clock  and  had 
passed  through  several  miles  of  it  before  I  realised  its 
character.  The  length  of  the  rapid  is  fourteen  miles, 
or  from  Rock  Island  to  Port  Byron  on  the  Illinois 
side.  According  to  Captain  R.  E.  Lee,  U.  S.  En- 
gineers, the  fall  in  the  river  is  25.74  feet.  The  jSIis- 
sissippi  flows  over  a  bed  of  limestone,  the  ledges  of 
which  sometimes  reach  quite  across  the  river.  In  times 
of  very  shallow  water,  one  might  possibly  incur  some 
danger  in  running  the  Rock  Island  Rapids;  but  I  had 
followed  the  spring  freshet  down  and  had  a  thoroughly 
enjoyable  hour  among  the  swift  currents. 

The  shores  are  generally  prairie  above  Rock  Island 
and  the  background  well  timbered.  Davenport,  with 
a  charming  range  of  sloping  hills  behind  it,  formed  a 
fine  landscape.  Muscatine  was  the  halting  place  for 
the  night.  The  next  day  was  intolerably  warm  and 
the  trip  to  Burlington,  sixty-two  miles,  was  very 
arduous. 

Here  followed  one  of  the  red  letter  days  of  the 
voyage.  Starting  from  Burlington  at  nine  o'clock,  I 
followed  the  Iowa  shore  hoping  to  secure  a  sailing  breeze, 
but  the  wind  was  blowing  up-stream  and  this  made  the 
heat  more  endurable.  Bluffs  reappeared  on  the  west 
and  soon  grew  to  almost  the  magnitude  they  had  pos- 
sessed about  Eake  Pepin.  Charming  little  green  islands 
were  scattered  in  the  stream.  As  the  meal  hour  ap- 
proached, I  came  to  a  little  town,  the  water  front  of 
which  was  lined  with  rafts.  Upon  one  of  these,  I  saw 
a  frame  boarding-house  and  immediately  applied  for 
entertainment.     The  landlord  was  an  Irisliman  and  fed 


Great  Si.iril  r.lulV,  iicaf  Alma.  Wis.-onsin. 
Photo,  by  E.  J.  Hall,  Oak  Park,  111. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  183 

me  on  boiled  beef  and  dried  peaches.  The  meat  was 
tough,  but  the  appetite  was  indulgent. 

I  set  out  for  Nauvoo.  The  imposing  site  had  been 
described  to  me,  but  its  beauty  far  exceeded  expecta- 
tions. I  beached  my  canoe  under  the  bluff  about  five 
o'clock,  at  a  point  from  which  a  path  led  up  the  slope 
to  a  red  brick  hotel.  There  I  found  a  hale  and  refined 
old  lady,  Mrs.  Joseph  Smith,  widow  of  the  founder  of 
Mormonism.  She  was  mistress  of  the  tavern.  After 
supper,  she  and  I  sat  upon  the  brow  of  the  bluff,  with 
the  mighty  JNIississippi  flowing  between  us  and  the 
Iowa  shore,  while  I  listened  to  her  narrative  of  the  ter- 
rible privations  and  persecutions  of  early  Mormon  days. 
Mrs.  Smith's  conversation  is  very  memorable,  due  to 
the  romantic  surroundings  and  especially  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  its  English.  Nauvoo  cannot  be  dismissed 
in  a  few  w^ords.  It  belongs  to  the  history  of  religion 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  its  romantic  features 
equal  those  of  the  missionary  priests  who  devoted  their 
lives  to  the  dissemination  of  doctrines  in  which  they 
devoutly  believed. 

Nauvoo  is  the  sacred  town  of  Mormonism:  to  true 
believers,  it  is  what  Benares  is  to  Buddhism  and  Mecca 
to  Islam.  The  Mormon  idea — older  than  Joseph 
Smith,  who  gave  to  it  fovm  and  direction — was  a 
product  of  several  communistic  movements  that  began 
between  1820  and  1830,  in  various  parts  of  the  Eastern 
States.  This  farmer's  son,  living  at  different  periods 
of  his  boyhood  near  Palmyra  and  JNIanchester,  in  west- 
ern New  York,  saw  visions,  had  dreams,  and  practised 
healing  by  faith.  His  father,  mother,  and  maternal 
grandfather  had  asserted  similar  unusual  powers. 
There  is  a  quaint  "  chap-book  "  in  the  Berrian  Collec- 


1 84  The  Mississippi 

tion,  published  by  one  Solomon  ^lack  (Windsor, 
Canada,  1810),  which  foreshadows  the  neurotic  con- 
ditions that  developed  in  Joseph  Smith. 

Solomon  JNIack  was  an  illiterate,  shiftless  man  who 
described  himself  as  "  a  wild  ass's  colt,"  and  his 
daughter,  Lucy  [Mack,  became  the  mother  of  Joseph 
Smith.  The  boy  grew  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  unrealit}^ 
and  probably  inherited  a  taint  of  epilepsy.  Solomon 
Mack  confessed  to  "  frequent  fits."  Smith's  mother 
was  a  mental  freak.  She  implicitly  believed  in  dreams. 
Thus,  the  founder  of  JNIormonism  was  a  product  of 
atavism;  his  erratic  temperament  was  inherited.  Jour- 
nals left  by  Mrs.  Lucy  Smith  foreshadow  the  recent 
work  of  Mrs.  Mary  Baker-Eddy.  They  were  pub- 
lished in  Liverpool  (1853),  and  are  of  undeniable 
authenticity. 

Joseph  Smith,  Senior,  came  as  a  colonist  from  New 
England  to  the  property  of  the  Holland  Land  Com- 
pany, o^vners  of  a  large  tract  west  of  Seneca  Lake,  in 
New  York.  Palmyra  had  only  four  log  houses.  In 
this  environment,  Lucy  Smith  raised  her  children.  For 
a  brief  period,  the  Smiths  lived  at  INIanchester,  a  place 
equally  desolate:  but  at  Palmyra,  the  son,  Joseph,  be- 
gan to  argue  and  to  exhort  whenever  he  could  secure 
hearers.  On  day,  he  announced  the  finding  of  a  set 
of  golden  plates,  upon  which  w^ere  inscribed  "  The 
teachings  of  Nephi,  his  reign  and  ministry." 

"  The  Book  of  ^lormon  "  appeared  in  1830,  printed 
by  E.  B.  Grandin,  for  the  author,  at  Palmyra. 

After  Smith's  followers  had  migrated  to  Kirtland, 
Ohio;  thence  (1838)  to  the  town  of  Far  West,  jVIis- 
souri,  where  relentless  persecution  culminated  in  the 
massacre  of  twenty  people   at   Haun's  ]\Iill,  we  find 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  185 

them  at  Nauvoo,  on  the  Illinois  bank  of  the  Mississippi. 
Already  Orson  Pratt  was  preaching  the  faith  in  Eng- 
land and  sending  to  America  a  constantly  increasing 
stream  of  converts. 

The  site  of  Nauvoo  probably  is  the  most  beautiful 
on  "the  Father  of  Waters."  A  majestic  bluff,  over- 
looking the  broad  river,  and  a  vast  stretch  of  level 
country  behind  it,  affords  ample  room  for  a  city  of 
vast  proportions.  Had  the  ^lormons  not  been  ruth- 
lessly driven  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  a  city  equal  in 
beauty,  wealth,  and  industry  to  the  capital  of  Utah 
would  stand  upon  this  commanding  eminence  to-day, 
adding  to  the  pride  of  the  State  and  nation.  Here  the 
sect  thoroughly  organised  for  the  first  time.  The  ori- 
ginal title  of  the  boat-landing  had  been  "  Commerce  "; 
but  Smith  renamed  it  "  Nauvoo,"  or  "  The  beautiful." 
A  large  tract  of  land  was  purchased  for  $14,000,  and 
broad  streets  were  laid  out,  crossing  each  other  at  right 
angles.  A  busy,  thriving  town  developed.  Two  hund- 
red houses  and  many  public  edifices  were  built.  In 
1841,  Smith  had  a  revelation,  directing  that  a  great 
temple  be  built.  Underneath  the  land  a  fine  quality 
of  limestone  had  been  discovered  and  quarries  were 
opened,  from  which  material  was  procured  to  build  the 
temple.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  with  much  cere- 
mony in  1841.  The  structure  was  of  polished  stone, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  long,  eighty-eight 
feet  wide,  and  sufficiently  capacious  to  accommodate 
three  thousand  people.  It  was  surmounted  by  a  tower 
rising  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet,  and  its  inte- 
rior decorations  were  costly.  The  total  expenditures 
exceeded  $500,000. 

Nauvoo   soon   had   a   population   of   ten   thousand 


i86  The    Mississippi 

people,  and  Joseph  Smith  was  supreme  in  authority. 
With  prosperity  came  internal  dissensions  among  the 
INIormons  and  many  malicious  reports  were  circulated 
regarding  Smith's  moral  character.  He  was  accused 
of  having  "  spiritual  wives,"  although  that  part  of  the 
Mormon  doctrine  had  not  been  propounded.  The  en- 
tire population  of  Illinois  eventually  divided  on  Mor- 
mon and  anti-Mormon  sentiment.  Smith's  bitterest 
opponents  and  critics  were  Dr.  Foster  and  Mr.  Law, 
editors  of  The  Nauvoo  Expositor:  they  published  so 
many  attacks  upon  Smith  that  Ke  ordered  their  print- 
ing-office burned.  These  editors  got  warrants  for  the 
arrest  of  Joseph  and  Hiram  Smith,  but  the  constable 
was  driven  out  of  town  when  he  tried  to  serve  the 
papers.  Conditions  became  so  strained  that  Governor 
Ford  sent  a  demand  from  Springfield  for  the  surrender 
of  the  Smith  brothers.  He  feared  to  call  out  the 
militia,  knowing  that  bloodshed  would  ensue. 

Joseph  Smith  expressed  a  willingness  to  submit  to 
the  authority  of  the  State  government,  at  the  same 
time  declaring  that  he  believed  he  would  be  a  victim 
of  mob  fury.  The  Governor  promised  protection  and 
the  two  men  surrendered  themselves  at  Carthage. 
They  were  incarcerated  in  the  jail  at  that  place.  On 
June  27,  1844,  a  mob  gathered  which  broke  into  the 
prison  and  shot  the  two  men  to  death.  It  was  a  Yery 
brutal  outrage. 

The  assassination  of  Joseph  Smith  strengthened 
Mormonism.  Alive,  he  may  have  been  an  imposter; 
dead,  he  became  a  martyr.  His  biographers  have 
found  many  difficulties  in  arriving  at  a  correct  estimate 
of  Joseph  Smith.  He  was  a  remarkable  man,  pos- 
sessed of  superior  natural  talent  and  of  much  executive 


_'   o 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  187 

ability.  Under  unceasing  persecutions  and  constant 
hardships,  he  established  a  combination  of  thrift  and 
religion  that  has  endured  in  Utah  unto  this  day. 

At  the  time  of  his  first  alleged  revelation,  there  were 
forty-three  separate  sects  of  the  Christian  religion  in 
this  country.  The  land  resounded  with  the  hysterical 
cry,  "What  must  we  do  to  be  saved?"  Appeal  for 
salvation  was  so  general  that  Smith  found  hundreds  of 
followers,  when,  at  any  other  period,  he  would  not  have 
secured  scores.  Smith  was  either  a  sincere  religious 
fanatic,  or  a  remarkable  imposter. 

The  grave  and  imposing  stone  temple  at  Nauvoo, 
upon  which  the  faithful  had  laboured  so  devotedly,  was 
burned  by  anti-INIormons  in  1848.  With  Brigham 
Young  as  their  leader,  the  ^lormons  trekked  across  the 
plains  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake  and  established,  at 
"Deseret,"  a  new  home,  which  their  energies  have  caused 
to  bloom.  Their  new  city  was  laid  out  upon  hues 
similar  to  those  adopted  at  Nauvoo. 

After  the  exodus  of  the  main  body  of  the  "  Latter 
Day  Saints,"  Nauvoo  became  the  seat  of  a  sect  of 
French  Socialists  calling  themselves  "  Icarians."  Re- 
pudiating the  new  leader,  Brigham  Young,  the  widow 
of  Joseph  Smith  remained  behind,  to  end  her  days  at 
the  scene  of  her  beloved  husband's  preaching  and  only 
a  few  miles  from  the  place  of  his  murder.  She  re- 
married, when  past  middle  life,  and  I  was  introduced 
to  her  husband. 

"  Joseph  Smith  never  suggested  or  practised  poly- 
gamy," said  the  aged  lady,  with  a  directness  born  of 
sincere  belief.  "  He  was  a  devoted  and  faithful  hus- 
band. The  blemish  of  polygamy  was  engrafted  upon 
Mormonism,  which  was  a  pure,  gentle,  trusting  faith, 


1 88  The  Mississippi 

— beautiful  as  the  behefs  of  the  ancient  Greeks, — by 
Brigham  Young  and  Orson  Pratt,  after  my  husband's 
cruel  assassination." 

*'  You  love  this  place  and  his  memory  so  deeply 
that  you  would  not  trek  to  far-away  Utah? "  I  asked. 

"  Not  altogether  that.  I  was  a  devout  believer  in 
the  faith  as  disclosed  by  Joseph  Smith;  but  I  would 
not  follow  false  prophets." 

After  breakfast,  next  morning,  I  visited  the  site  of 
the  great  temple,  a  ploughed  field.  Not  a  villager  ap- 
peared to  realise  a  lost  opportunity.  Wayfarer  as  I 
was,  I  could  have  lingered  for  hours  watching  the  grand 
river  that  I  had  seen  grow  from  a  brook. 

The  pull  to  Keokuk,  nineteen  miles,  was  made 
through  rapid  water;  but  I  would  not  have  known  I 
was  descending  a  fall  had  I  not  noticed  a  steamer  as- 
cending through  a  lock  on  the  Iowa  side.  The  dis- 
tance was  covered  in  about  ninety  minutes.  Although 
the  heat  was  intense  I  pushed  on  to  Canton,  twenty- 
four  miles  farther.  I  landed  on  the  Iowa  shore  at  half- 
past  two,  utterly  fagged.  I  was  twenty  miles  from 
Quincy  and  after  waiting  until  the  sun  got  low,  I  easily 
made  the  distance  before  dark.  The  follo\^^ng  day 
was  uneventful.  To  avoid  getting  into  chutes  and 
ponds  along  the  route  required  watchfulness.  I  went 
miles  out  of  my  way  on  two  occasions.  I  intended  to 
stop  at  Hannibal  for  luncheon,  but  had  run  by  it  be- 
fore the  error  was  detected.  I  stopped  three  hours  at 
Saverton,  on  account  of  the  intolerable  heat,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Louisiana,  Mo.,  opposite  Quincy  junc- 
tion, and  spent  the  night. 

As  I  was  getting  ready  to  start,  next  morning,  the 
steamboat  Belle  of  La  Crosse  ran  on  the  levee.     This 


The  Sugar  Loaf,"  near  Winoii; 


Trempealeau. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  189 

was  the  second  time  she  had  met  me  since  I  had  left 
Saint  Paul.  Realising  that  she  would  reach  Saint 
Louis,  a  round  one  hundred  miles  distant,  before  dark, 
I  decided  to  dodge  sunstroke  and  take  her.  My  canoe 
was  carried  aboard  and  I  received  a  warm  welcome  from 
the  captain.  We  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River, 
sacred  to  the  memories  of  the  early  explorers  and  mis- 
sionaries, at  four  o'clock,  and,  after  a  brief  stop  at  Alton, 
saw  the  coffee-coloured  flood  of  the  Missouri  add  itself 
to  the  clear  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  As  far  as  Saint 
Louis,  the  western  third  of  the  broad  river  remained 
cafe  au  lait  in  hue.  Putting  the  canoe  in  a  warehouse 
near  the  wharf,  I  went  to  the  Southern. 

XI BY  STEAMBOAT  TO  NEW  ORLEANS 

The  voyage  from  Saint  Louis  to  New  Orleans  on 
the  steamboat  James  Howard  developed  sufficient  in- 
cidents to  fatten  a  story  book.  The  boat  was  only 
partially  loaded,  because  the  chief  part  of  the  cargo  for 
New  Orleans  was  to  be  received  at  Cairo,  from  Ohio 
River  craft.  This  would  necessitate  a  stay  at  the  little 
town  in  "  Egypt,"  Illinois,  and  many  passengers  for 
the  lower  river  preferred  to  wait  in  Saint  Louis  and 
overtake  the  boat  by  train. 

Any  narrative  of  a  week's  life  upon  a  Mississippi 
steamboat  without  gambling  experiences  would  not 
possess  the  flavour  of  reality:  but  the  run  to  Cairo  was 
uneventful.  The  captain  was  an  interesting  man  who 
had  spent  forty  years  on  the  river.  He  mentioned  the 
suicide  of  Captain  Durkin,  of  the  Minotatir,  who  lost 
all  his  earthly  possessions  in  a  game  of  poker,  aboard 
his  own  boat.     The  spell  of  the  terrible  name  borne  by 


I90  The  Mississippi 

the  craft  did  not  impress  the  captain;  but  he  was  very- 
sure  that  ill  luck  attended  all  steamers  christened  with 
names  beginning  with  "  M."  The  same  fatality  ap- 
plied to  the  Missouri  River  as  well  as  to  the  Mississippi. 
He  cited  the  cases  of  the  Magnolia,  which  took  fire  and 
burned  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  of  her  three  hund- 
red passengers;  of  the  Metamora,  sunk  above  Choctaw 
Island ;  of  the  3Iidas,  snagged  at  the  bend  above  Island 
No.  16;  of  the  3Iayflozver,  burnt  at  INIemphis,  and  of 
several  others.  He  then  recurred  to  Captain  Durkin 
and  said: 


On  a  down  trip,  two  well-dressed  passengers  came  aboard 
at  Memphis  and  announced  themselves  as  Louisiana  planters. 
That  evening,  one  of  these  strangers  suggested  a  game  of 
poker  to  the  captain.  Durkin  was  fond  of  "  draw "  and 
agreed.  After  play  with  varying  fortune,  he  was  dealt  four 
kings.  Then  he  bet  all  his  money  and  his  quarter  interest 
in  the  Minotaur.  His  opponent  showed  four  aces.  Durkin 
signed  a  bill  of  sale  for  his  share  in  the  boat,  went  to  his 
stateroom,  and  shot  himself.  He  left  a  note,  saying :  "  A 
man  who  would  bet  his  last  dollar  on  four  kings  does  n't 
deserve  standing-room  on  earth." 

As  an  exception  to  popular  superstition  among 
Mississippi  steamboat  captains,  it  may  be  stated  that 
the  James  Howard  was  burned  soon  after  the  trip  that 
served  to  continue  my  voyage  as  far  as  the  Crescent 
City.  The  explosion  of  the  Sultana's  boilers,  in  1864, 
had  caused  a  sacrifice  of  six  hundred  and  forty-seven 
lives,  and  the  Saluda,  ending  her  career  in  similar 
fashion,  destroyed  one  hundred  human  beings. 

Train  from  Saint  Louis  brought  fifty  passengers 
for  our  boat,  among  whom  was  a  collector  for  a  New 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  191 

York  house  known  to  me.  That  afternoon,  as  we  were 
passing  Island  No.  10  and  New  Madrid,  historically 
interesting,  owing  to  the  places  they  occupy  in  the  re- 
cords of  the  Civil  War,  I  listened  to  a  gambling  episode 
that  had  occurred  to  the  narrator  while  ascending  the 
JNIississippi  during  the  previous  winter: 


I  never  shall  touch  a  card  again  [he  began].  I  have 
had  my  lesson.  I  arrived  at  New  Orleans  from  a  collection 
tour  in  Texas,  with  quite  a  bunch  of  money  in  certified  checks 
and  cash.  Coming  too  late  for  banking  hours,  I  carried  this 
money  aboard  the  boat,  which  was  to  leave  at  nine  o'clock, 
intending  to  secure  a  draft  at  Memphis  to  the  credit  of  my 
house.  I  scheduled  the  checks  and  mailed  them  to  New  York ; 
then  I  made  the  bills  into  a  bundle,  which  I  deposited  with 
the  purser  of  the  steamboat.  He  was  in  collusion  with  gam- 
blers aboard,  and  before  supper,  I  had  been  introduced  to 
several  sleek  but  respectable-appearing  men.  A  game  of  poker 
was  proposed  after  the  boat  got  under  way,  and  having  several 
hundred  dollars  of  money  of  my  own,  I  had  no  objections. 
I  thought  I  could  take  care  of  myself.  I  met  a  Cincinnati 
salesman  aboard,  Whitney  by  name,  and  persuaded  him  to 
join  us.  We  adjourned  to  a  stateroom  from  which  a  four- 
poster  bed  had  been  removed  and  six  of  us  "  sat  in." 

The  game  ran  along  quietly  for  half  an  hour,  nobody 
making  any  suggestion  to  increase  the  modest  five-dollar  limit. 
I  was  ahead  about  |80.  Whitney  was  a  small  loser.  No 
amount  of  money  worth  talking  about  had  changed  hands.  I 
had  my  eyes  about  me,  but  had  failed  to  detect  evidences  of 
collusion  or  cheating  on  the  part  of  my  new  acquaintances. 
I  played  with  a  feeling  of  increased  confidence,  and  under 
pretext  of  getting  some  cigars  from  my  stateroom,  dropped 
out  long  enough  to  secure  the  wad  of  money  from  the  purser's 
safe. 

There  was  a  "  jack  pot "  soon  after  my  return.  The  player 
at  my  left,  one  of  the  strangers,  was  dealing.  The  first 
man    said,   "  No."     The   second   player   "  declined   to   open." 


192  The  Mississippi 

The  third,  Whitney,  tossed  a  blue  chip  into  the  centre  of  the 
table,  with  the  statement:  "I  open,  for  the  limit!"  The 
fourth  man,  at  my  right,  "  chipped  along." 

I  had  a  pair  of  kings  and  a  pair  of  jacks;  so  I  "  hiked  it." 
The  dealer  quit,  as  did  the  chap  next  to  him.  The  second 
player  stayed  for  the  |10,  as  did  Whitney.  Fourth  man  saw 
my  raise  and  raised  back.  I  "  chipped  along,"  but  was  sur- 
prised to  find  strength  develop  at  Number  Two,  who  "  tilted 
the  pot,"  as  if  he  meant  to  stay.  Whitney  wouldn't  quit. 
When  Number  Four's  turn  came,  he  "  made  good  "  and  raised ! 
I  merely  chipped,  feeling  that  I  was  over-playing  two 
pairs.  Surely  enough,  Two  "  bumped  it " ;  Whitney  quit ; 
Four  merely  "  stayed  ";  I  decided  to  "  linger  "  and  take  cards. 
This  is  what  the  draw  revealed: 

Number  Two  asked  for  two  cards.  The  logic  of  that  act 
was  that  he  had  declined  to  "  open  "  on  threes,  or,  quite  im- 
probably, was  holding  "  a  kicker  "  to  a  pair.  I  "  read  him  " 
for  threes. 

Number  Four's  draw  was  interesting.  He  took  one  card, 
ostentatiously  placing  his  discard  before  him  and  covering  it 
with  a  chip.  Although  he  had  n't  "  broken  the  jack,"  he  in- 
tended to  give  the  impression  that  he  had  split  a  pair  and 
was  about  to  draw  to  a  straight  or  flush.  I  reasoned  that  if 
he  had  been  given  fours  "  to  go  in "  he  would  have  "  stood 
pat,"  in  order  to  indicate  a  smaller  hand  than  he  actually 
possessed.  With  the  probability  of  having  threes  to  beat  at 
Number  Two,  and  a  completed  flush  at  Number  Four,  I  made  a 
freak  draw.  I  had  a  pair  of  kings,  therefore  nobody  else  could 
get  four  kings.  I  tossed  them  away,  with  the  three  spot 
of  hearts,  and  drew  to  the  jacks.  To  my  surprise,  I  was 
given  a  king  and  two  jacks!  That  ought  to  have  made  me 
wise;  for,  don't  you  see,  on  the  assumption  that  I  would  draw 
only  one  card,  the  intention  of  the  dealer  was  that  I  should 
have  a  king  full, — a  very  respectable  hand.  Four  jacks,  how- 
ever, were  different.  I  would  have  played  a  "  full "  with 
caution :  but  f-o-u-r-s !  I  did  n't  worry  about  a  straight  flush ; 
as  for  fours,  only  aces  or  queens  could  beat  me.  I  tried  to 
look  unconcerned,  as  I  awaited  the  first  bet.     Whitney  being 


-Oplb 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  193 

out,  that  distinction  fell  to  Number  Four.  I  raised  him,  heard 
Two  raise  me  and  saw  Four  "  hike "  it,  again,— as  he  spoke 
of  the  folly  of  over-playing  a  flush. 

Here  is  where  the  usual  thing  occurred.  Somebody  sug- 
gested "taking  off  the  limit."  The  passion  was  on  me;  I  was 
glad  to  agree.  All  the  avaricious  traits  of  my  character  were 
in  evidence.  I  was  a  different  man  from  the  one  who  had 
entered  the  game, — a  soulless  thing,  money-mad. 

When  Two  topped  my  re-raise  of  Four's  raise  by  a  hundred 
dollars,  I  was  delighted.  I  was  doubly  glad  when  Four  added 
another  hundred.  I  pushed  two  bills  across  the  table  to 
"  make  good  "  and  taking  all  the  rest  of  my  own  cash,  raised 
$250.  I  had  expected  a  show-down  at  this  point;  but  in  the 
half  minute  of  silence  that  followed,  I  decided  to  use  the 
money  of  my  firm,  if  necessary  to  force  a  conclusion.  Em- 
bezzlement? Yes;  but  at  that  moment  my  dying  mother  could 
not  have  convinced  me  I  was  doing  wrong.  After  unusual 
deliberation,  the  gamester  at  my  left  "  saw  "  Four's  hundred, 
my  $250,  making  $350,  and  added  five  crisp  hundred  dollar 
bills  to  the  stake.  Cold  perspiration  appeared  on  my  fore- 
head ;  the  only  choice  lay  between  jail  or  victory.  "  Mine  are 
as  good  as  they  were,"  commented  Four,  as  he  again  raised 
another  |500. 

A  glance  at  my  hand  showed  that  none  of  the  jacks  had 
got  away;  I  still  held  five  cards,  with  the  king.  My  hand 
was  n't  foul,  whether  it  won  or  lost.  The  possibility  of  a 
straight  flush  in  Four's  hand  froze  the  marrow  in  my  bones. 
What  could  I  do  but  go  on? 

It  is  well  enough  to  say  I  could  have  retired  with  the  loss 
of  a  few  hundred  dollars  and  remained  honest.  Persons  who 
reason  thus  fail  to  comprehend  the  passion  that  swayed  me. 
I  opened  the  bulging  envelope  and  spread  the  bills  across  a 
knee.  It  cost  me  $1000  to  "  call,"  but  I  did  so.  As  I  had 
feared,  Number  Two  "  saw  "  his  friend's  $500  raise  and  "  went 
up  "  an  equal  amount.  Without  an  instant's  hesitation,  Four 
"  made  good  "  and  raised  a  plumb  thousand. 

I  saw  two  things  clearly.  First,  I  was  being  "  saw-bucked  " 
by  the  players  alternately  raising  on  either  side  of  me; 
13 


194  The  Mississippi 

second,  I  had  probably  over-played  my  fours  and  could  not 
win  on  a  "  show-down."  I  had  already  embezzled  $1000  of  my 
employers'  funds.  Suicide  suggested  itself,  in  case  I  failed 
to  win;  but  I  did  not  have  the  slightest  impulse  to  quit. 
Meanwhile,  Four  tossed  in  |1500,  meaning  an  increase  of 
flOOO. 

With  swimming  eyes,  I  "  saw  "  the  $1500  promptly,  fortu- 
nately counting  the  money  in  my  lap.  That  meant  $2500  of 
the  money  entrusted  to  my  keeping.  But,  I  made  a  dis- 
covery !  Upon  the  back  of  the  envelope,  I  had  written  "  $3200." 
I  had  overlooked  several  sums,  and  still  had  $3000  left.  I 
could  win,  if  my  antagonists  had  n't  that  much  between  them. 
After  my  "  call,"  Number  Two  "  made  good  "  Four's  raise  and 
added  $500.  Instantly,  Four  counted  out  precisely  $760,  mean- 
ing a  "  raise  "  of  $260 ! 

My  eyes  were  opened  by  that  bet.  I  glanced  at  the  back 
of  the  envelope  I  had  given  to  the  purser, — "  3260."  Exactly 
the  amount !  The  fellow  wanted  my  last  dollar  and  was  n't 
afraid  of  a  "  show-down." 

Here 's  where  the  catastrophe  was  to  have  occurred.  I  de- 
tected an  expression  of  sarcastic  glee  on  the  face  of  the  dealer, 
— who  had  not  joined  in  the  betting  but  was  to  be  sharer  in 
the  spoils.  Niimber  Two  had  only  a  few  bills  on  the  table, 
but  he  appeared  to  know  that  he  wouldn't  need  more.  Four 
acted  as  if  he  already  had  my  cash  in  his  clutches.  He  was 
contentedly  swinging  upon  the  gate  of  hell !  The  satanic  leer 
of  joy  in  that  man's  eyes  decided  me:  I  "made  good"  and 
raised  him  $2240 ! 

Consternation  appeared  upon  the  faces  of  the  three  pro- 
fessional gamblers.  Number  Two  leaned  over  to  Whitney  and, 
showing  to  him  four  aces,  begged  for  enough  money  to  "  call." 
Number  Four  in  a  low  voice  asked  to  have  the  bet  reduced 
to  $800,— all  the  funds  he  had  with  him. 
"  Never !  "  I  fairly  screamed. 

Four  then  asked  to  leave  the  room  to  secure  money;  but, 
at  a  motion  from  me,  Whitney  stepped  to  the  door,  and,  mak- 
ing sure  it  was  locked,  put  the  key  in  his  pocket.  I  was 
armed  and  meant  to  die  rather  than  let  that  gang  of  scoun- 


-    -     o 


•-    O 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  195 

drels  do  me.  Number  Four,  the  dean  of  the  trio,  rose,  throw- 
ing down  his  cards,  faces  upward.     He  bowed  and  said : 

"  It  is  a  dead  *  freeze-out ' :  but  your  nerve  and  your  money 
win." 

As  Whitney  showed  a  pair  of  queens,  his  "  openers,"  I  saw 
that  Number  Four  had  laid  down  a  ten-high,  straight  flush. 

The  James  Howard  chugged  away  throughout  the 
night  and  ran  her  bow  upon  the  levee  at  Memphis 
shortly  after  noon  of  the  following  day.  The  city  had 
not  fully  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  Civil  War. 
It  was  far  from  being  the  beautiful  place  it  is  to-day. 

Several  stops,  notably  at  Helena,  were  made  during 
the  night  and  all  the  next  day  was  spent  "  rounding  the 
bends  "  in  this  crookedest  of  American  rivers.  The 
Jordan,  in  Palestine,  is  probably  the  only  stream  on 
earth  containing  more  convolutions.  Although  the  dis- 
tance from  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  to  the  Dead  Sea  is 
hardly  sixty  miles,  the  Jordan  uses  full  two  hundred 
miles  in  making  the  steep  descent.  The  point  of  great- 
est interest  during  that  long  day's  steaming  was  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River,  where  is  the  defunct 
village  of  Napoleon.  Visions  of  La  Salle,  Tonty,  and 
other  early  explorers  came  before  my  eyes  as  we  steamed 
smoothly  past  the  outlet  of  this  great  river.  Lost  towns 
are  scattered  along  the  entire  made-lands  of  the  IMis- 
sissippi's  delta;  but  the  most  notable  is  this  one  of 
Napoleon,  which  from  1844  to  1874  was  county  seat 
of  Desha  County,  Arkansas,  and  had  eight  hundred  in- 
habitants in  1860;  but,  since  my  visit,  the  JNIississippi 
took  a  dislike  to  it  and  washed  away  its  streets  and 
houses.  I  am  assured  that  to-day  the  site  of  this 
ambitious  town  cannot  be  identified. 

Amidst  the  sunlight  of  the  following  morning,  I 


196  The  Mississippi 

caught  sight  of  Vicksburg.  Standing  at  the  wheel- 
house,  an  obhging  ex-Confederate  pointed  out  the 
strategic  features  of  the  landscape.  Especially  did  he 
indicate  the  locality*  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  at 
which  General  Sherman  suffered  defeat.  Our  steamer 
carried  a  great  deal  of  merchandise  for  Vicksburg,  and 
passengers  spent  until  four  o'clock  visiting  places  of 
historic  interest.  Many  of  the  cave  dwellings,  cut  into 
the  hard-clay  hillsides  and  occupied  during  the  bom- 
bardment, were  still  in  existence  and  some  of  them  were 
in  use  as  beer  cellars. 

At  daylight  the  following  morning,  we  were  at 
Natchez-under-the-Hill :  five  hours  were  spent  in  ram- 
bhng  about  the  upper  town.  Memories  of  the  Spanish, 
French,  and  English  pioneers  were  awakened  by  the 
names  of  many  of  the  streets.  I  would  have  liked  to 
have  seen  a  few  streets  or  squares  bearing  the  titles  of 
the  wonderful  native  chieftains  described  in  the  Jesuit 
"  Relations."  John  Hay,  an  associate  on  the  Tribune, 
had  not  published  Jim  Bludso  of  the  Prairie  Belle, 
M'ho  "had  one  wife  at  Natchez  and  another  here  in  Pike." 
Having  read  Chateaubriand's  Bene  and  Atala,  I  sought 
for  a  monument  to  Chactas. 

Baton  Rouge  was  announced  at  breakfast  and  I  drove 
over  much  of  the  desolated  city.  Deserted  houses  were 
numerous.  Like  Natchez,  the  streets  were  paved  with 
square,  red  tiles.  Dwellings  of  the  poor  were  crowded 
among  the  business  houses.  The  really  impressive  ob- 
ject of  the  then  former  capital  of  Louisiana  was  its 
ruined  State  House,  standing  as  evidence  of  the  ravages 
of  the  terrible  conflict  so  recently  ended.  (In  1880, 
this  city  was  again  made  the  capital  of  the  State.) 

The  roofless  capitol  stood  upon  an  eminence  at  the 


V 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  197 

southern  end  of  town,  overlooking  the  hroad  and  placid 
river  I  had  followed  for  weeks  and  watched  its  growth 
from  a  hrooklet  to  a  thing  of  majesty.  It  stood  in 
grounds  filled  with  blooming  shrubs:  banana,  plantain, 
palmetto,  magnolia,  and  box  trees  spread  their  foliage 
over  the  paths.  The  stucco  with  which  the  brick  struc- 
ture was  covered  gave  to  the  ruin  the  effect  of  white 
marble.  It  belonged  to  a  school  of  architecture  the  ex- 
amples of  which  are  more  beautiful  as  ruins  than 
as  habitations  of  men.  Not  a  hillock  appears  below 
Baton  Rouge:  the  bluffs  that  shone  so  grandly  at 
Vicksburg  and  Natchez  have  dwindled  to  nothing. 
Sugar  plantations  are  w^ll-nigh  continuous  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Red  River  on  the  western  and  Baton 
Rouge  on  the  eastern  banks,  as  far  south  as  Pointe-a-la- 
Hache,  fifty  miles  below  New  Orleans.  In  their  rear 
are  the  vast  cypress  swamps  of  Louisiana,  with  their 
moss  and  vine-laden  trees  of  most  funereal  aspect. 

During  the  night,  the  James  Howard  tied  up  at 
her  wharf,  not  far  from  the  foot  of  Canal  Street,  New 
Orleans,  but  most  of  her  passengers  remained  aboard 
until  next  daj^,  when,  going  ashore,  I  drank  water  of 
Elk  Lake,  iced  for  a  mint  julep  of  New  Orleans. 

XII TO  THE  SEA  AND  TO  NEW  YORK 

The  steamship  George  Cromwell,  Captain  Samuel 
L.  Clapp,  did  not  sail  for  New  York  until  the  follow- 
ing Saturday,  leaving  four  days  in  which  to  visit  many 
interesting  places  identified  with  the  early  history  of 
the  Mississippi's  development.  Canal  Street  is  as 
indelibly  associated  with  the  "  Crescent  City "  as 
Broadway  is  with  "  Gotham."    It  is  a  broad,  open  thor- 


198  The  Mississippi 

oughfare  into  which  a  visitor  inevitahly  drifts,  no  matter 
at  what  point  he  enters  the  city.  Thereon  are  its  fash- 
ionable chibs  and  one  of  the  best  restaurants  in  all 
creation, — the  place  at  which  one  can  obtain  real  gombo 
soup  and  eat  the  Creole  papahotte,  or  marsh-fed  plover. 
But  the  visitor  who  knows  his  New  Orleans  does  not 
linger  on  Canal  Street:  he  seeks  the  French  quarter 
through  Royal  Street.  Within  a  few  squares  of  the 
busy  modern  thoroughfare,  crowded  with  all  forms  of 
traffic,  he  enters  a  region  wherein  is  yet  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  has  revealed  to  him  the  New  Orleans  of 
the  Provincial  period.  Without  any  stretch  of  imagi- 
nation, he  can  easily  fancy  himself  in  the  older  streets 
of  Bordeaux.  Quaint  depots  of  antiquarians,  little 
absinthe  and  wine  shops;  tobacco  factories  in  hallways 
(where  one  can  have  a  cigar  rolled  while  w^aiting)  ;  tiny 
furniture  warerooms  having  mysterious  yellow  or  red 
paper  slips  pasted  in  a  corner  of  their  front  windows 
which  mean  that  lottery  tickets  are  sold  "  on  the  side." 
There,  too,  are  many  quaint  Spanish  houses,  a  single 
story  in  height,  with  their  red-tile  roofs.  The 
"  quarter  "  is  honeycombed  with  courtyards  that  might 
be  in  Southern  France  or  in  Spain,  veritable  patios 
that  lack  nothing  of  Andalusian  glamour,  even  to  spark- 
ling fountains.  Royal  Street  was  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain  of  the  Orleans  of  the  Louisiana  Province. 

Especially  did  I  visit  the  old  St.  Louis  Hotel 
around  which  all  social  activities  of  the  Franco- 
American  city  revolved  during  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth centurj'-.  There  duels  were  arranged;  the  great 
ball  of  each  winter  was  given  there.  It  was  the  central 
point  of  "  Acadia,"  as  the  merry  French-Creoles,  as  late 
as  the  Fifties,  understood  it.     The  interior  of  its  cen- 


Old    Sl.ilc    IIousi'  :it    r,;il(.ii    lloi 
(hiring-  the  Civil  W'ai 


r.iiiiicd 


Old  Absinthe   House,  -New   Oileans. 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  199 

tral  cupola  was  frescoed  by  a  nephew  and  pupil  of 
Canova;  but  far  more  curious  to  me,  as  existing  evi- 
dence of  a  barbarism  from  which  the  Civil  War  had 
so  recently  freed  my  country,  I  walked  to  the  corner 
of  the  rotunda  and  stepped  upon  the  raised  block  of 
stone  between  two  massive  columns  that  had  served 
for  a  generation  as  an  auction-block  from  which  human 
beings  were  sold  to  the  highest  bidder!  Years  after- 
ward, when  shown  into  a  slave  market  at  Tangier,  a 
city  of  the  most  debased  survival  of  medieval  barbar- 
ism, the  mental  picture  of  this  auction-block  at  New 
Orleans  recurred  to  me.  There  was  the  stone,  with  the 
auctioneer's  name  cut  thereon.  One  had  only  to  close 
his  eyes  to  find  around  him  the  gilded  youths  of  the 
Forties  and  Fifties,  bidding  against  one  another  for 
this  pretty  slave  or  that  sine^vj^  field-hand.  How  easy 
to  see  a  graceful  octoroon,  standing  upon  that  grey 
stone,  her  scantily-clothed,  coppery-hued  figure  framed 
between  the  fluted  Corinthian  columns,  an  object  of 
jibes  and  rivalry  between  the  members  of  a  group  of 
brandy-heated  libertines ! 

I  strolled  into  Charles  Street,  a  corridor  of  balconies, 
and  to  the  "  rendezvous  des  amies  de  Vart  culi- 
nairef  an  unincorporated  organisation  that  assembles 
about  four  o'clock,  every  afternoon,  at  "  The  Old 
Absinthe  House,"  to  discuss  the  latest  thought  in  cook- 
ing and,  incidentally,  to  imbibe  uncounted  glasses  of 
pale,  amber-hued  drink, — properly  dripped  into  a  gob- 
let with  a  pointed  bottom.  Not  far  distant,  in  Chartres 
Street  and  upon  a  corner,  I  was  shown  the  house  that 
the  "  pure-blooded  "  Creoles  built  for  the  Exile  at  St. 
Helena,  the  great  Napoleon  who  had  given  their  land 
and   themselves  to  the  j^oung  Republic.      Instead   of 


200  The  Mississippi 

effecting  the  intended  rescue  and  building  his  house 
Avhen  they  had  "  their  Emperor  "  to  occupy  it,  the  hero- 
worshippers  were  celebrating  their  intended  benefaction 
in  a  noisy  revel  when  word  of  Napoleon's  death,  months 
before,  at  "  Longwood,"  on  his  lonely  island  prison, 
reached  New  Orleans. 

A  visit  of  reverent  sympathy  was  made  to  the  tomb 
of  Dominique  You,  the  Baratarian  pirate  who  rendered 
such  heroic  service  to  General  Jackson  on  the  Plain 
of  Chalmette.  It  is  in  need  of  repair  and  if  the  city 
of  New  Orleans  does  not  attend  to  the  task,  Congress 
should  appropriate  money  for  the  purpose. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  August  3d,  the 
steamship  George  Cromwell  swung  from  her  wharf  and 
headed  for  the  Gulf  of  INIexico, — the  last  stage  of  the 
Mississippi  journey.  In  mid-stream,  aboard  an  ocean- 
going craft,  the  majesty  of  the  great  river  was  felt  as 
not  before.  Every  eye  was  watching  for  the  Plain  of 
Chalmette,  the  field  upon  which  the  squirrel-hunters  of 
the  woods  and  the  smugglers  of  Barataria  defeated 
British  veterans  of  the  Peninsular  war.  Its  site  was 
indicated  by  an  uncompleted  shaft.  Between  Pointe-a- 
la-Hache, — where  a  clumsy  carpenter  is  said  to  have 
dropped  overboard  an  axe, — and  Forts  St.  Philip  and 
Jackson,  the  river  banks  are  lined  with  orange  groves. 
Across  the  narrow  strip  of  land  that  restrains  the  river 
in  its  channel  below  the  forts,  rarely  a  mile  in  width,  the 
Gulf  can  be  plainly  seen.  Here  and  throughout  lower 
Louisiana,  the  people  speak  of  "  the  coast "  of  the  INIis- 
sissippi;  it  is  quite  improper  to  say  "banks."  A 
panorama  of  splendid  plantations  unrolled  before  us. 
Reaching  the  head  of  the  passes,  we  took  the  south-west 
channel  to  the  sea.     The  bar,  one  hundred  and  twenty 


0    ..:i 


Tlic   House    r.iiilt    I'oi-    llic    i:iiiin'i-(.i-    .\;ii>ol(' 


Elk  Lake  to  South-west  Pass  201 

miles  from  the  "  Crescent  City,"  was  crossed  at  4.30 
in  the  afternoon;  the  three-pronged  delta,  having  mys- 
terious place  upon  the  famous  "  Admiral's  Map  "  of 
unknown  authorship,  came  clearly  into  view  as  the 
mouths  of  south  and  north-east  passes  were  reached. 

The  red-sandstone  walls  of  the  frowning  but  worth- 
less fortress  upon  the  Dry  Tortugas  were  sighted  at 
five  o'clock  of  August  6th,  and  Key  West  light  ap- 
peared at  ten  the  same  night.  We  went  through 
Florida  Strait  with  the  onrush  of  the  Gulf  Stream  at 
its  most  constricted  point.  Along  the  east  coast  of  the 
Peninsula,  we  had  the  dainty  flying-fish  and  bright- 
hued  nautilus  with  us  as  far  as  Canaveral  light.  The 
Gulf  Stream,  veritable  "  river  in  the  ocean  "  and  greater 
in  volume  than  the  mighty  flood  from  which  I  had 
parted  company,  was  hurrying  us  northward  at  a  speed 
of  five  miles  an  hour.  It  was  bound  for  that  Haven 
of  Missing  Ships,  the  Sargasso  Sea;  we  for  that 
Port  of  the  Living,  New  York. 

Cape  Hatteras,  with  its  resplendent,  companionable 
light,  amid  the  loneliness  of  that  generally  storm-tossed 
part  of  the  Atlantic,  was  sighted  at  8.58  p.m.^  of  the 
9th.  Thirty  hours  later,  we  were  at  our  pier  in  New 
York.  A  trip  of  more  than  six  thousand  miles  at  an 
end,  the  writer  was  at  once  asked  to  and  did  volunteer 
for  an  undertaking  far  more  hazardous  than  that  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Itasca  State  Park 

THE  preservation  of  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi 
probably  grew  out  of  a  suggestion  made  by  the 
late  Alfred  J.  Hill,  of  Saint  Paul,  in  March, 
1889,  that  the  Itasca  region  be  secured  by  the  State  of 
Minnesota  and  converted  into  a  park.  Joseph  A.  Whee- 
lock,  in  the  Saint  Paul  Pioneer  Press,  warmly  advocated 
the  measure  and  it  was  formally  brought  before  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  in  1890  by  Emil  Geist,  of 
Saint  Paul.  General  John  B.  Sanborn,  a  member  of 
the  State  Senate,  was  asked  to  prepare  and  submit  a 
bill  to  the  Legislature.  This  act,  which  met  with  hearty 
approval,  created  "  The  Itasca  State  Park,  composed 
of  thirty-five  square  miles  of  territory  at  Itasca  Lake, 
for  ever  dedicated  to  the  public."  Under  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act,  Governor  William  R.  Merriam  ap- 
pointed J.  V.  B rower.  First  Commissioner  of  the  Itasca 
State  Park.  Although  Mr.  Brower  had  visited  the 
region  in  October  of  1888,  he  had  not  been  equipped 
at  that  time  with  instruments  for  charting  the  lake. 
He  returned,  however,  in  JNIarch,  1889,  and  measured 
Itasca  on  the  ice.  In  1891,  he  made  a  topographical 
survey,  as  directed  by  the  special  act,  and  the  results 
of  the  hydrographic  survey  of  1889  and  of  the  topo- 
graphical examination  of  1891  were  combined  in  a  chart 
that  afterwards  became  known  as  a  map  of  the  Itasca 


niiVlP'^'-'-'"-"weM«.-iiHf,j 


The  Itasca  State  Park  203 

State  Park.  It  is  herewith  given.  Representative  J. 
N.  Castle,  of  Minnesota,  introduced  a  bill  in  Congress 
giving  to  the  State  of  JNIinnesota  all  government  lands 
tying  within  the  limits  of  the  park;  but  despite  the 
promptitude  with  which  the  bill  became  a  law,  timber- 
cruisers  and  lumber  companies  "  located  "  vast  tracts 
of  the  territory.  These  they  have  largely  denuded  of 
timber  and  some  of  the  splendid  forests  along  the  shores 
of  Itasca  Lake  have  been  destroyed. 

The  name  of  J.  V.  Brower  will  always  be  associated 
with  sturdy  efforts  made  to  retain  the  natural  beauties 
of  the  Itasca  Lake  region.  He  had  performed  the 
task  for  which  he  was  commissioned  by  his  State  and 
the  Governor  thereof,  before  the  Mississippi  Com- 
mission took  cognisance  of  the  sources  of  the  mighty 
river.  Of  great  value  were  the  calculations  he  com- 
piled regarding  the  elevations  of  the  points  upon  the 
river  and  especially  of  the  large  lakes  in  the  Minne- 
sota watershed.  He  computed  the  elevation  in  feet 
above  sea  level,  at  the  surface  of  the  stream,  to  be  as 
follows : 

Gulf  of  Mexico 0.0    Prairie  du  Chien 597.5 

City  of  Saint  Louis 384.8    La  Crosse 621.2 

Moutli  of  the  Illinois. .  399.4     Saint  Paul 680.5 

Hannibal  444.9  Above  St.  Anthony  Fall     782.0 

Quincy   453.8  Below  Pokegama  Fall.   1248.0 

Keokuk    472.3  Above  Pokegama  Fall.   1269.8 

Burlington    505.1  Winnebagoshish  Lake  .   1292.8 

Rock   Island 533.7    Cass  Lake 1302.8 

Dubuque   578.2    Itasca  Lake 1457.0 

Taken  in  connection  with  the  distances  between  the 
localities  mentioned,  the  changes  in  altitude  unmistak- 
ably indicate  rapid  water  in  many  places.     The  height 


The  Itasca  State  Park  203 

State  Park.  It  is  herewith  given.  Representative  J. 
N.  Castle,  of  Minnesota,  introduced  a  bill  in  Congress 
giving  to  the  State  of  JNIinnesota  all  government  lands 
lying  within  the  limits  of  the  park;  but  despite  the 
promptitude  with  which  the  bill  became  a  law,  timber- 
cruisers  and  lumber  companies  "  located  "  vast  tracts 
of  the  territory.  These  they  have  largely  denuded  of 
timber  and  some  of  the  splendid  forests  along  the  shores 
of  Itasca  Lake  have  been  destroyed. 

The  name  of  J.  V.  Brower  will  always  be  associated 
with  sturdy  efforts  made  to  retain  the  natural  beauties 
of  the  Itasca  Lake  region.  He  had  performed  the 
task  for  which  he  was  commissioned  by  his  State  and 
the  Governor  thereof,  before  the  Mississippi  Com- 
mission took  cognisance  of  the  sources  of  the  mighty 
river.  Of  great  value  were  the  calculations  he  com- 
piled regarding  the  elevations  of  the  points  upon  the 
river  and  especially  of  the  large  lakes  in  the  Minne- 
sota watershed.  He  computed  the  elevation  in  feet 
above  sea  level,  at  the  surface  of  the  stream,  to  be  as 
follows : 

Gulf  of  Mexico 0.0     Prairie  du  Chien 597.5 

City  of  Saint  Louis. . . .  384.8    La  Crosse G21.2 

Mouth  of  the  Illinois . .  399.4     Saint  Paul 680.5 

Hannibal  444.9  Above  St.  Anthony  Fall     782.0 

Quincy  453.8  Below  Pokegama  Fall.   1248.0 

Keokuk    472.3  Above  Pokegama  Fall.   1269.8 

Burlington    505.1  Winnebagoshish  Lake  .   1292.8 

Rock   Island 533.7    Cass  Lake 1302.8 

Dubuque   578.2     Itasca  Lake 1457.0 

Taken  in  connection  with  the  distances  between  the 
localities  mentioned,  the  changes  in  altitude  unmistak- 
ably indicate  rapid  water  in  many  places.     The  height 


204  The  Mississippi 

of  Pokegama  Fall  is  established  at  21.8  feet.  INIr. 
B  rower  and  his  assistants  gave  more  than  five  months 
to  their  work,  and  the  survey  made  by  them  would 
appear  to  have  been  more  thorough  and  satisfactory 
than  that  of  Edwin  S.  Hall,  C.  E.,  for  the  United  States 
Government,  in  1875,  w^hen,  for  the  first  time,  the  Itasca 
country  had  any  lines  run. 

]\Ir.  Brower  spent  many  months  in  compiling  his 
report.  It  gives  a  topographical  description  of  Itasca 
Lake,  but  states  that  the  soundings  made  w^ere  in- 
adequate for  an  accurate  calculation  of  the  cubic  gal- 
lons of  water  contained  in  the  lake.  Depths  of  twenty 
to  thirty-five  feet  were  found  in  numerous  places  and 
some  as  great  as  fifty.  The  deepest  w  ater  is  off  Turn- 
bull  Point, — the  cape  that  divides  the  two  southern 
arms.  Mr.  Brower's  measurement  of  Itasca  Lake  upon 
the  ice  gives  the  following  figures:  "  From  the  centre 
of  the  channel  at  the  outlet  of  Itasca,  on  the  surface 
of  the  ice,  to  the  mouth  of  Chambers  Creek,  16,727 
feet," —  3  miles,  887  feet,  or  about  three  and  one  sixth 
miles.  This  is  the  first  actual  measurement  and  is  defin- 
itive. ]Mr.  Brower  adds,  on  the  same  page :  "  There 
is  no  doubt  whatever  that  Elk  Lake  is  supplied  to  some 
extent  by  waters  from  the  greater  ultimate  resen^oir 
bowl  by  tortuous  channels  through  the  ways  which 
nature  in  her  grandeur  has  provided,"  ^ 

Itasca  Lake  varies  in  width  from  one  sixth  to  three 
quarters  of  a  mile.  "  Many  precipitous  hills,  covered 
with  pine  timber,  nearly  surround  it,"  continues  the 
Commissioner's  report. 

Among  them  it  is  deeply  embedded.  In  places,  the  shores 
are  lined  with  boulders,  thicklj'  bordered  with   overhanging 

1  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  vii.,  p.  259. 


The  Itasca  State  Park  205 

flora.  At  occasional  points  along  the  shore,  springs  of  clear, 
cold  water  appear,  around  which  cluster  balsam,  fir,  spruce, 
the  native  tamarack,  willow,  aspen,  ash,  and  birch,  with  pine 
groves  at  higher  elevations.  Drought  does  not  greatly  affect 
the  outflow  of  the  lake.  The  following  streams  of  running 
water  supply  the  lake  with  an  inflow  equalling  the  outflow; 
Nicollet's  Creek  [called  by  him  "the  Cradled  Hercules"] 
at  the  extreme  south-west  angle;  Chambers  Creek,  the  outlet 
of  Elk  Lake,  at  east  side  of  west  arm;  Mary  Creek,  at  ex: 
treme  south-east  angle;  Boutwell  Creek,  at  west  side  of  west 
arm;  Island  Creek,  on  west  side,  opposite  Schoolcraft  Island; 
and  Floating  Bog  Creek,  at  Floating  Bog  Bay.  The  area  of 
Schoolcraft  Island  is  2.62  acres.  A  shoal  of  boulders  exists 
in  the  main  body  of  the  lake,  a  short  distance  west  by  south 
from  the  island.  There  are  a  series  of  small  lakes  extending 
southward  through  Mary  Valley,  from  the  eastern  arm  as  far 
as  Deming  Lake. 

Stanley  A.  McKay,  of  Owatonna,  Minnesota,  con- 
tributes a  statement  regarding  the  outflow  of  Itasca, 
which  Commissioner  Brower  has  deemed  worthy  to  be 
included  in  his  report.     It  is  as  follows: 

It  seemed  to  me  beyond  question  that  the  volume  of  water 
flowing  out  Itasca  Lake  was  far  greater  than  the  combined 
volume  of  all  its  four  streams  and  inlets.  If  actual  measure- 
ment prove  this  to  be  true, — and  it  seems  to  me  probable, 
thus  showing  that  the  added  volume  of  the  outlet  comes  from 
springs  in  the  lake, — would  not  that  leave  Itasca  as  the  real 
source  of  the  Mississippi? 

The  answer  to  Mr.  McKay's  query  is  that  every- 
thing depends  upon  the  facts;  his  theory  is  based  upon 
an  assumption.  A  decision  in  the  matter  ought  to  be 
easy  of  attainment. 

Commissioner  Brower's  latest  exploration  of  the 
Nicollet  Valley  and  of  Nicollet  Creek  is  given  herewith 
in  his  own  words: 


2o6  The  Mississippi 

TMiere  the  stream  becomes  a  part  of  Itasca  Lake,  it  is 
forty  feet  in  width  and  two  feet  in  depth;  narrowing  as  as- 
cended, it  was  found  to  be  three  feet  in  depth,  twenty  feet  in 
width,  with  a  brisk  current,  a  short  distance  from  the  lake. 
The  character  of  the  locality  is  a  deep  valley,  somewhat 
swampy  along  the  stream,  with  prominent  hills  on  either  side, 
heavily  timbered  with  the  native  pine.  These  hills  also  appear 
in  detached  groups  in  the  tamarack  and  fir  thickets,  sometimes 
a  hundred  feet  in  height  and  the  pines  a  hundred  feet  higher 
than  the  hills  beneath  their  stately  branches,  making  the  local- 
ity easy  of  access  and  not  difficult  to  closely  examine.  Pass- 
ing up  the  stream,  the  explorer  is  impressed  with  its  import- 
ance, as  compared  with  all  the  other  streams  found  there,  by 
its  sharply  defined  banks,  its  winding,  meandering  channel, 
deeply  cut  into  the  stratum  to  a  sandy,  gravelly  bed,  with  the 
appearance  and  characteristics  of  the  Mississippi  below  Itasca 
Lake.  It  has  sandbars,  sharp  angles  in  its  channel,  deep  and 
shallowing  currents,  and  all  the  striking  features  of  a  river. 
Trees  have  been  felled  in  several  places  across  its  banks  to 
permit  of  passage  on  foot  (1904).  Upon  the  removal  of  these 
trees,  canoes  might  be  propelled  nearly  two  miles  up  this 
channel  from  Itasca  Lake. 

The  lines  of  measurement  were  extended  throughout  the 
entire  locality,  thereby  securing  the  distances  and  elevations; 
lakes  were  sounded  for  depth,  the  streams  were  measured  for 
width,  depth,  and  flowage,  and  the  topography  was  carefully 
taken,  even  to  the  extent,  when  found  necessary,  of  opening 
passages  through  the  thickets  around  Nicollet  Valley.  A  line 
penetrating  the  wilderness  from  Morrison  Hill,  directly  to  the 
north  shore  of  Hernando  de  Soto  Lake,  discovered  the  exist- 
ence and  continuance  of  a  spur  of  the  Hauteurs  de  Tcrre, 
sharply  separating  the  waters  of  Nicollet  Valley  from  those  of 
Elk  Lake.  The  lines  of  measurement,  extended  to  every  local- 
ity, gave  the  following  results: 

From  the  centre  of  the  channel  at  the  outlet  of  Itasca  Lake 
to  the  mouth  of  Nicollet's  Creek,  17,!)2G  feet;  thence  up  the 
channel  to  mouth  of  Demaray  Creek,  3707;  to  Nicollet's  lower 
lake,  2760 ;  to  Nicollet's  middle  lake,  1950 ;  to  Nicollet  Springs, 


Itasca  Park  Lodjjre. 


A  IMi-dscye  Vww  of  llasca  Jiasin. 
(Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collection. 


The  Itasca  State  Park  207 

690;  to  Nicollet's  upper  lake,  315;  to  centre  of  Mississippi 
Springs,  5265 ;  to  nortli  end  of  Whipple  Lake,  1320 ;  and  thence 
to  inner  flank  of  the  Hauteurs  dc  Terre  at  south  shore  of 
Hernando  de  Soto  Lake,  12,060 :  or  a  total  of  40,089  feet. 

Due  almost  wholly  to  the  enthusiasm,  energy,  and 
persistence  of  the  late  J.  V.  Brower,  the  Itasca  State 
Park  is  now  an  established  institution.  Its  area  is 
19,701.69  acres.  Of  this,  the  United  States  granted 
6956.92  acres;  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany, 2452.96;  two  school  sections  1280;  purchased  of 
Weyerhauser  3191.90;  swamp  lands  82.67;  Great 
Northern  selections  210.16,  and  acreage  in  unsuccess- 
ful negotiation  5527-08.  Since  the  locality  has  become 
easy  of  access,  many  tourists  visit  the  Park  every 
summer.  A  lodge  for  the  entertainment  of  guests  has 
been  built  south  of  the  east  arm  of  Itasca,  in  a  fine 
forest. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Delta  of  the  Mississippi 

NO  other  river  delta  in  the  world  compares  with 
that  of  the  Mississippi.  Geologists  assure  us 
that  an  arm  of  the  Gulf  originally  extended  as 
far  north  as  Cape  Girardeau,  Missouri,  and  that  the 
creation  of  the  present  frontier  line  has  been  "  the  slow, 
calm  toil  of  Nature."  This  gives  to  it  a  stretch  across 
eight  and  one  half  degrees  of  latitude,  say  one  thousand 
miles! 

The  Nile  delta  extends  southward  from  the  Medi- 
terranean,— the  Sea  of  All  Antiquity, — as  far  as 
Helouan,  a  village  ten  miles  south  of  Cairo,  prin- 
cipally memorable  for  its  fossilised  forests.  This  is 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles  distant  from  the  sea. 
Standing  by  the  great  obelisk  at  Heliopolis, — and  the 
tall  monolith  is  the  only  evidence  extant  that  a  city  of 
a  million  people  once  was  there, — the  ^vriter  of  this 
volume  realised,  recently,  that  the  surface  of  the  Nile 
delta,  in  which  Heliopolis  stands,  had  been  raised 
twenty-five  feet  since  Sesostris  set  up  the  shaft,  four 
thousand  years  ago.  The  delta  of  the  Ganges  is  not 
so  large  as  that  of  the  Nile. 

The  made  land  of  the  Mississippi's  delta  averages 
sixty  miles  in  width,  narrowing  in  places  to  thirty  and 
expanding  at  other  times  to  ninety  miles.  It  is  ^ndest 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River,  where  is  the  dead 

208 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  209 

town  of  Napoleon;  and  narrowest  at  Natchez  and  at 
Helena.  Interlocking  hayous  and  channels,  navigahle 
for  hght-draft  steamhoats,  parallel  the  JNIississippi's 
entire  course  through  these  thousand  miles  of  soft,  allu- 
vial bed.  Every  available  acre  of  land  is  thus  brought 
into  close  proximity  to  navigation, — a  characteristic 
that  renders  the  mighty  American  river  different  from 
any  other  in  the  world. 

Before  the  completion  of  the  present  dyke  system. 
Colonel  Caleb  G.  Forshay,  a  distinguished  engineer 
who  devoted  many  years  to  the  problem  of  controlling 
the  waters  of  the  Lower  Mississippi,  estimated  that  one 
tenth  of  the  delta  area  was  consumed  by  channels  or 
water  spaces:  yet,  such  was  their  importance,  as  means 
of  inter-communication,  that  they  added  assessable 
value  to  the  real  estate  in  evary  State  along  that  part 
of  the  river. 

The  part  of  the  delta  bordering  the  Gulf  of  ^lexico 
contains  seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-two 
square  miles  of  marsh  lands.  The  fertility  of  the  soil 
is  apparently  inexhaustible.  In  the  last  two  latitudinal 
degrees  of  the  river's  course,  rice  and  sugar  are  grown 
in  an  abundance  and  quality  not  equalled  in  any  other 
part  of  North  America.  Sugar-cane  is  cultivated  only 
in  the  Mississippi  delta,  south  of  latitude  31  degrees 
and  30  minutes.  From  that  point,  northward,  for  five 
degrees,  cotton  grows  in  double  quantities  as  compared 
with  the  uplands.  Oranges,  figs,  grapes,  apples, 
peaches,  and  other  fruits  of  the  semi-tropics  and  of  the 
temperate  zones  are  grown  in  various  parts  of  the  delta. 
Pecans,  most  valuable  because  most  marketable  of  all 
nuts,  abound  over  the  entire  alluvial  basin. 

This  productiveness  is  universally  applicable  to  all 


2IO  The  Mississippi 

unsubmerged  alluvial  lands  of  the  Mississippi  delta  and 
does  not  apply  exclusively  to  chosen  areas. 

Colonel  Forshay  calculates  the  productive  lands  in 
the  basin  at  22,920,320  acres.  "  It  is  the  largest  body 
of  equal  fertility  known  to  geography,"  he  adds.  It 
is  fully  twice  as  large  as  Egypt,  as  represented  by  the 
Nile  valley,  delta  and  the  Fayum.  In  the  ^lississippi 
valley,  a  loss  of  one  crop  in  five  from  overflow  (a 
large  estimate)  leaves  to  the  agriculturist  double  the 
product  of  continuous  half  crops  upon  the  uplands. 

The  forests  of  the  delta  are  remarkable  for  the  large 
size  of  their  trees  and  the  exuberance  of  foliage :  cypress 
and  oak  are  the  chief  varieties,  but  many  other  kinds 
abound.  Great  festoons  of  parasitic  moss  and  climb- 
ing vines  cling  to  the  branches  of  the  trees.  While 
ships  were  built  of  wood,  live  oaks,  at  the  southern 
section  of  the  delta,  supplied  angles  and  braces  for  the 
marine  of  the  world.  Some  cypress  swamps  have  pro- 
duced as  much  as  fifty  thousand  feet  of  lumber  to  the 
acre, — not  mentioning  several  hundred  yards  of 
moccasin  snakes. 

I — ITS   LEVEES 

Prior  to  the  building  of  levees,  the  Mississippi  al- 
ways overflowed  at  38°  30'  N.,  and  passed  into  the  White 
Water  lakes  and  swamps  connecting  with  the  St.  Francis 
and  the  Black  rivers,  whence  the  flood  pursued  its  course 
to  the  White  River  and  Arkansas  valleys,  through 
Macon  Bayou,  thence  by  the  Red  and  Atchafalaya 
rivers  into  the  Gulf  of  ^Mexico.  Often,  this  overflow 
did  not  find  its  way  back  into  the  INIississippi,  but  formed 
a  parallel,  although  shallow,  channel  a  thousand  miles 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  211 

long.  This  pecuHar  geographical  feature  is  only  to  be 
likened  to  the  annual  overflow  of  the  Amazon  and  Ori- 
noco rivers,  by  which  they  are  temporarily  united. 
When  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  an  English  geologist,  ex- 
amined the  JNIississippi  delta,  he  limited  its  northern 
boundary  to  the  head  of  the  Atchafalaya  and  gave  to 
it  an  area  of  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  square  miles : 
but  Colonel  Forshay  fixed  its  northern  limit  at  three 
miles  below  Cape  Girardeau,  and  gave  to  it  an  area  of 
thirty-eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-six 
square  miles. 

The  Nile  has  subsided  every  season  before  the  Mis- 
sissippi begins  to  run  aflood.  What  is  a  supreme  bless- 
ing in  Egypt,  is  in  Louisiana  gravest  of  calamities. 
IMillions  have  been  spent  at  Assuan,  at  Assiut,  and 
below  Cairo  to  distribute  the  fertilising  floods  far  and 
wide;  in  Louisiana,  ^lississippi,  and  Arkansas  money 
has  been  poured  out  to  restrain  the  angry  river  within 
its  banks. 

The  fertihty  of  the  Mississippi  delta  is  so  extraor- 
dinary and  its  climate  so  salubrious  that  the  rescue 
of  its  cultivable  lands  from  submergence  by  annual 
floods  has  engaged  the  attention  of  the  best  engineer- 
ing ability  since  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
Republic.  During  the  last  half -century,  the  subject 
has  become  a  matter  of  supreme  importance  to  Ameri- 
can commercial  growth,  has  commanded  the  attention 
of  Congress,  and  has  warranted  a  constant  expenditure 
of  enormous  sums  of  money  by  the  States  along  its 
banks,  as  well  as  by  the  general  government. 

The  first  systematic  attempt  to  control  the  great 
river  was  undertaken  at  New  Orleans  in  the  year  1717, 
when  De  la  Tour,  who  had  laid  out  the  city,  ordered  a 


212  The   Mississippi 

dj'-ke  built  along  its  river  front  from  Canal  Street  to 
the  Esplanade  to  protect  the  citizens  from  overflow. 
Planters  then  began  continuing  levees  along  the  river. 
This  constant  struggle  of  man  against  the  elements 
continued  in  a  desultory  way  for  a  hundred  years 
and,  especially  in  Louisiana,  during  three  changes  of 
government.  The  defence  of  man  against  the  relent- 
less encroachment  lacked  organisation.  Its  weakness 
at  some  points  amounted  to  incapacity;  the  strength 
of  the  defence  was  gauged  only  by  the  weakest  point 
and  the  river  proved  its  might  whenever  it  chose.  In 
1828,  however,  the  assaulting  force  grappled  the  prob- 
lem seriously.  The  levees  then  reached  from  Pointe- 
a-la-Hache  below  New  Orleans  to  the  Red  River's 
mouth  on  the  west  side,  a  total  of  four  hundred 
miles  of  dykes.  The  young  State  of  Louisiana  had 
been  aroused  to  activity  by  the  disastrous  flood  of  that 
year.  After  ten  years'  continuous  labour,  the  outlets  of 
the  largest  bayous  were  closed.  Bayou  1' Argent,  a 
few  miles  above  Natchez  and  opening  into  Lake  St. 
John,  and  Bullet's  Bayou,  opening  into  Lake  Con- 
cordia, were  closed  by  a  parish  tax,  not  by  riparian 
proprietors.  The  filling  up  of  these  two  bayou  con- 
nections with  the  river  marks  the  beginning  of  State 
and  national  reclamation. 

The  rescue  of  the  Concordia  plantations  from  the 
grasp  of  the  Mississippi  River  is  a  historical  event, 
remembered  and  celebrated  from  one  end  of  the  delta 
to  the  other. 

One  by  one,  Bryan's  Bayou,  Alligator  Bayou,  and 
River  Styx,  leading  into  Lake  St.  Joseph ;  Bayou  Vidal 
leading  to  Tensas;  and  Providence  Bayou,  communi- 
cating with  Lake  Providence,  were  sealed  up.     Before 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  213 

the  advent  of  the  great  flood  of  1844,  every  old  river 
lake  for  six  hundred  miles  up  the  right  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  was  cut  off  from  the  river's  overflow.  No 
braver  struggle  between  man  and  nature  ever  was  made. 

The  next  step  was  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
Louisiana  Legislature  to  secure  aid  from  the  general 
government.  This  took  the  form  of  a  memorial  from 
the  former  body  in  the  winter  of  1849  praying  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  for  aid  to  protect  the 
people  and  property  of  the  Mississippi  delta  against 
inundations.  The  government  had  many  thousand 
acres  of  unsold  land  in  the  delta  and  Congress  acted 
with  promptitude.  A  survey  of  the  delta  by  United 
States  engineers  was  ordered.  To  assist  the  States,  the 
unsold  government  swamp  lands  were  given  to  the 
various  States.  In  1853,  after  the  several  States  in 
interest  had  formed  a  combination  for  mutual  protec- 
tion, the  national  government  practically  took  charge 
of  the  work. 

According  to  Humphreys  and  Abbott,  the  levee 
line  was  completed  on  the  eastern  bank  from  Pointe-a- 
la-Hache  to  Baton  Kouge;  thence  for  two  hundred 
miles,  until  Vicksburg  is  reached,  the  mighty  river  im- 
pinges upon  bluffs  which  serve  as  nature's  own  dykes. 
The  line  was  finished  from  Vicksburg  north  to  Horn 
Lake  at  the  Mississippi  State  line,  in  which  section  the 
largest  outlet  grappled  with  anywhere  along  the  river 
up  to  that  time,  Yazoo  Pass,  was  closed.  From  that 
point  to  the  northern  end  of  the  delta  only  short 
stretches  of  dykes  were  required. 

The  problem  on  the  western  bank  was  an  almost 
equally  serious  one.  Before  the  government  took  hold, 
the  line  of  the  defence  against  floods  had  been  com- 


214  The   Mississippi 

pleted  through  Louisiana  and  along  the  Arkansas  shore 
nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River.  Above 
that  point,  the  river  front  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri 
required  only  forty  miles  of  levee, — due  to  high  banks. 

When  this  work  was  thoroughly  in  hand,  the  Civil 
War  burst  upon  the  country  in  1861.  All  work 
stopped.  Spades  were  laid  aside  for  muskets.  Instead 
of  using  sand  bags  for  stopping  crevasses  in  the  levees, 
men  piled  them  into  breastworks  for  protection  from 
bullets.  The  amount  of  levee  destruction  due  to  mili- 
tary necessity  during  the  four  years  of  conflict  never 
can  be  accurately  calculated.  Within  a  few  weeks  of 
the  surrender  at  Appomattox,  the  States  of  Louisiana 
and  Mississippi  began  repairing  the  most  important 
breaks  in  levees  along  their  banks.  In  many  places, 
due  to  changes  in  the  river's  course,  levees  have  been 
destroyed  and  rebuilt  thrice  since  1865.  In  Louisiana 
alone,  the  amount  of  filling  necessary  to  stay  the  en- 
croachments of  the  river,  for  the  five  years  immediately 
following  the  close  of  the  war,  amounted  to  8,135,656 
cubic  yards  and  cost  $4,881,936.  Louisiana  issued 
during  that  time, — according  to  O.  D.  Bragdon, — 
$8,134,000  in  Levee  Bonds. 

The  Mississippi  has  tributaries  that  surpass  the 
greatest  rivers  of  Europe.  It  discharges  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  one  half  more  water  than  do  the  Rhine, 
Loire,  Po,  Elbe,  Vistula,  Danube,  Dnieper,  Don,  and 
Volga  into  the  ocean  and  lake  front  of  Europe.  Its 
flow  past  New  Orleans  is  equal  to  that  of  the  Indus, 
Euphrates  and  Ganges  combined;  about  twice  as  much 
as  the  Nile;  equals  that  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  is 
surpassed  by  the  Amazon.  Unlike  the  floods  of  the 
Nile  and  the  Ganges,  which  occur  annually  and  with 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  215 

chronological  precision,  the  Mississippi  risings  are  ir- 
regular as  to  time  and  magnitude.  The  flood  of  1882 
exceeded  all  previous  ones  and  still  holds  the  high-water 
record.  Theoretically,  the  Missouri  ought  to  be  the 
determining  factor  and  generally  does  supply  the  great- 
est volume  of  superfluous  water;  but  the  freaks  of  the 
Ohio,  assisted  by  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  rivers, 
are  very  curious.  When  floods  of  large  proportions 
arrive  simultaneously  from  the  north  and  east  at  the 
meeting  point,  Cairo,  a  rise  of  forty  to  fifty  feet  has 
occurred  and  the  mighty  river  expands  to  a  width  of 
ten  to  sixty  miles.  "  It  would  seem  as  if  the  sea  had 
again  returned  to  its  own,"  comments  Robert  Stewart 
Taylor,  a  student  of  flood  phenomena.  He  has  pre- 
pared exhaustive  data  on  the  levee  system  of  the  ^lis- 
sissippi  from  which  we  arrive  at  an  estimate  of  the 
menace  to  agriculture  by  these  floods.  The  area  of 
rich,  tillable  land  so  threatened,  he  places  at  10,000,000 
acres.  Of  this  area,  2,000,000  acres  belong  to  the  corn 
belt,  extending  from  Commerce  to  the  Washita  River; 
6,000,000  acres  are  in  the  cotton  belt,  between  the 
Red  and  Washita  rivers;  and  2,000,000  acres  are  in 
the  sugar  and  rice  belts,  extending  from  the  Red  River 
to  the  Gulf.  Were  these  lands  secure  from  overflow, 
they  have  a  productive  capacity  of  60,000,000  bushels 
of  corn,  4,000,000  bales  of  cotton  (500  pounds  each), 
2,000,000,000  pounds  of  sugar,  and  1,000,000,000 
pounds  of  rice.  "  Up  to  date,"  says  Mr.  Taylor  in  a 
recent  article  on  this  subject,  "  less  than  one  third  of 
these  possibilities  have  been  realised."  This  would 
indicate  that  the  general  government  and  the  States 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley  cannot  expend  too  much 
money  for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  levees. 


2i6  The  Mississippi 

The  Mississippi  Commission  was  created  by  an  act 
of  Congress  three  years  before  the  disastrous  flood  of 
1882,  but  it  did  not  bestir  itself  until  after  that  calamity 
had  aroused  the  energies  of  the  entire  countrj^  looking 
to  the  protection  of  the  lowlands  of  INIississippi,  Arkan- 
sas, and  Louisiana.  The  Commission  consists  of  three 
United  States  engineers,  two  officers  of  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey,  and  three  civihans,  eight  members. 
It  has  expended  from  one  to  four  milHon  dollars  an- 
nually in  maintaining  the  dykes.  Since  1882,  the  States 
bordering  upon  the  mighty  flood  route  to  the  sea  have 
spent  $18,000,000  and  the  government  $16,000,000,  in 
fending  off  the  INIississippi  along  1300  miles  of  levees. 
A  continuous  system  to-day  extends  from  New  ISIadrid 
to  St.  Francis,  200  miles;  an  unbroken  dyke  incloses 
the  Yazoo  Basin,  north  of  Vicksburg,  300  miles;  an- 
other line  from  Arkansas  City  to  the  mouth  of  the  Red 
River,  331  miles;  another  from  the  Red  River  to  Fort 
Jackson,  274  miles ;  and,  on  the  east  bank,  another  from 
Baton  Rouge  to  Fort  St.  Philip,  193  miles.  There 
are  many  smaller  sections,  especially  at  the  mouths  of 
tributaries.  Chief  success  has  been  attained  in  the 
lowest  third  of  the  river. 

"  There  was  a  time,  ages  ago,  when  an  estuary  ex- 
tended from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  hills  above 
Cairo,"  says  Robert  Stewart  Taylor,  specialist  on  the 
levee  problem.^ 

If  the  relative  elevations  of  sea  and  land  were  as  they  are 
now,  the  Mississippi  River  ended  in  a  waterfall  three  hundred 
feet  high,  at  the  head  of  that  bay  and  near  the  site  of  the 
present  town  site  of  Commerce.  A  few  miles  eastward,  the 
Ohio,  the  Cumberland,  and  the  Tennessee  leaped  from  similar 

1 "  The  Levee  Problem,"  Forum,  vol.  xxiv.,  325. 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  217 

elevations  into  the  same  abyss.  With  this  enormous  down- 
pour came  the  sand,  clay,  and  loam,  scoured  from  a  million 
square  miles  of  watershed, — with  which  the  estuary  of  the 
Mississippi  has  been  filled  and  from  which  has  been  formed 
its  present  alluvial  delta.  Into  this  basin  has  been  gathered 
the  cream  of  the  Continent,  a  hundred  feet  deep  and  having 
an  area  of  twenty-nine  thousand  square  miles. 

Generals  Humphreys  and  Abbott  have  made  elabo- 
rate calculations  as  to  the  annual  soil-waste  caused  by 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  which  show  that  the 
river  carries  into  the  Gulf  over  400,000,000  tons  of  solid 
matter,  in  addition  to  large  quantities  of  earth  salts, 
in  solution,  and  of  sand,  or  other  coarse  material  swept 
along  its  bottom.  In  a  recent  article  ^  intended  to  ex- 
plain why  the  riches  of  American  farms  take  wings, 
Emerson  Hough  comments  on  the  Humphreys  and. 
Abbott  conclusions: 

At  the  time  of  these  determinations  [he  says],  settlement  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley  was  comparatively  limited,  and,  as 
shown  by  local  observations  on  different  rivers,  the  effect  of 
extending  agriculture  has  been  to  increase  the  soil-matter  car- 
ried by  the  Mississippi  fullij  twenty-five  per  cent.  Ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  matter  transported  by  the  waters  consists  of 
rich  soil-stuff  washed  from  the  surface  or  leached  from  the 
subsurface  of  fields  and  pastures  and  (in  less  degree)  of 
woodlands.  Reckoned  on  the  basis  of  value  as  fertiliser,  the 
material  could  hardly  be  appraised  at  less  than  one  dollar 
per  ton ;  so  that  the  annual  loss  to  the  agricultural  interests 
of  the  country  can  hardly  fall  short  of  a  billion  dollars — 
equivalent  to  an  impost  as  great  as-  most  other  taxes  com- 
bined, and  one  yielding  absolutely  no  return. 

The  watery  inhabitants  of  the  Lower  JNIississippi 

1 "  The  Waste  in  Mud,"  by  Emerson  Hough,  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  March  27,  1909. 


2i8  The  Mississippi 

possess  marked  peculiarities.  The  aUigator  is  not 
found  north  of  the  Yazoo.  He  frequents  the  bayous  of 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana, — especially  those  of  Plaque- 
mines parish, — in  preference  to  the  main  channel. 
His  fear  of  man,  dread  of  the  porpoise,  curious  night 
trips  ashore,  the  toughness  of  his  hide,  the  tremendous 
strength  of  his  tail,  the  ease  with  which  the  saurian  is 
called  to  the  surface  by  an  imitation  of  the  bark  of  a 
dog  or  squeal  of  a  pig,  his  slow  growth  and  longevity 
of  three  hundred  years  are  noteworthy.  The  bellow  of 
the  alligator  is  heard  only  in  stormy  nights.^ 

Land  crabs,  or  "  fiddlers,"  are  the  foes  of  levee 
builders.  The  banks  are  sometimes  covered  with  these 
crustaceans.  They  possess  a  single  claw,  instead  of 
two,  sometimes  upon  the  right  and  sometimes  upon  the 
left  side,  which  they  throw  up  as  a  menace. 

In  the  Mississippi  is  the  garpike,  which  Hugh 
Miller  declares  "  has  remained  to  unlock  the  marvels 
of  the  ichthyology  of  the  remotest  periods  of  geologic 
history  appropriated  to  the  fish  dynasty."  It  is  half 
fish  and  half  reptile.  A  coat  of  mail,  composed  of  bony 
plates,  from  which  a  steel  will  strike  fire,  covers  it. 
It  has  two  rows  of  teeth,  one  reptilian  and  one  pisca- 
torial, and  an  air  bladder  upon  which  it  can  draw  when 
out  of  water.  Lyell  says  of  the  garpike :  "  He  can 
hurt  anything  and  nothing  can  hurt  him." 

II — THE  JETTIES 

For  more  than  two  generations,  there  has  been 
open   war   between    man    and    nature    at    the    outlets 

1  See  an  article  on  this  subject  by  James  A.  Noyes,  Putnam's 
Magazine,  1868. 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  219 

of  the  Mississippi.  The  Gulf  Stream  sweeps  past 
the  three  mouths  of  the  mighty  river  and  phenomena 
not  found  elsewhere  on  the  glohe  exist  there.  Of 
these,  the  most  remarkable  are  the  mud  lumps  that 
often  rose  in  front  of  a  navigator  while  he  was  wait- 
ing at  the  bar  for  high  tide.  These  mud  volcanoes  were 
the  dread  of  pilots,  ancient  and  modern :  they  were  "  the 
evil  genii  of  the  Passes." 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  Captain  James 

B.  Eads  began  a  study  of  conditions  at  the  mouths  of 
the  Mississippi.  His  first  great  undertaking  associated 
with  that  river  was  the  building  of  a  steel  and  iron 
bridge  at  Saint  Louis;  but  when  that  enterprise  was 
fairly  under  way,  he  turned  his  attention  to  providing 
an  assured  depth  of  thirty  feet  at  the  outlet  of  the 
river.  Three  distinguished  government  engineers,  Gen. 
A.  A.  Humphreys,  Capt.  H.  L.  Abbott,  and  JNIajor 

C.  W.  Howell,  strenuously  opposed  Eads.  ISIajor 
Howell  had  proposed  a  canal  from  the  Mississippi,  at 
a  point  three  miles  below  Fort  St.  Philip,  to  Breton 
Sound,  whence  a  five-fathom  channel,  running  south- 
ward to  deep  water,  already  existed.  The  canal  would 
have  had  to  have  a  lock,  the  capacity  of  which  would 
not  exceed  twenty-four  vessels  per  day.  Captain  Eads 
contended  that  jetties  could  be  built  for  one  half  the 
cost  of  the  canal.  He  maintained  the  contest  for  sev- 
eral years  and  finally  won.  He  contracted  to  build 
jetties  at  South  Pass  for  $11,000,000  and  to  maintain 
them  for  nine  years,  payment  to  be  made  when  success 
was  assured. 

In  1875,  Congress  authorised  the  late  James  B. 
Eads  to  construct  jetties  at  South  Pass,  by  which  the 
fourteen  miles  of  channel  was  to  be  straightened  and 


220  The  Mississippi 

increased  to  a  depth  of  twenty-six  feet  of  water.  The 
work  was  placed  under  the  immediate  direction  of  E. 
L.  Corthell,  C.  E.,  and  was  completed  with  entire  suc- 
cess.    The  actual  cost  was  $8,021,740.87. 

In  one  of  his  memorials  to  Congress,  Captain  Eads 
stated  his  theory  about  the  delta  problem.  "  The  IMis- 
sissippi  is  simply  a  transporter  of  solid  matter  to  the 
sea,  chiefly  sand  and  alluvion  held  in  suspension  by  the 
mechanical  effect  of  the  current,"  says  Captain  Eads. 
"  A  certain  velocity  gives  to  the  stream  ability  of  hold- 
ing in  suspension  a  proportionate  quantity  of  solid 
matter;  and  when  thus  charged,  the  stream  can  sustain 
no  more, — hence  will  carry  off  no  more, — and  there- 
fore cannot  wear  away  its  bottom  or  banks,  no  matter 
how  directly  the  current  may  impinge  against  them.'* 
This  was  new  hydraulics ;  it  flew  in  the  face  of  accepted 
theories. 

"  The  Gulf  does  not  present  a  barrier  to  the  out- 
ward flow  because  less  friction  exists  in  walls  of  water 
than  between  banks  of  earth,"  argued  Captain  Eads. 

At  the  bar,  the  river  flows  between  banks  of  salt  water  and 
over  a  bottom  of  brine  instead  of  mud.  No  longer  having 
a  descent  of  a  few  inches  to  the  mile,  it  must  maintain  its 
current  in  the  Gulf  simply  by  acquired  momentum.  Friction 
finally  brings  it  to  a  state  of  rest,  when  a  spreading  out 
movement  begins.  The  tides  in  the  Gulf  are  feeble,  averaging 
less  than  fourteen  inches  in  height. 

Jetties  are  simply  dykes  or  levees  under  water,  and  act  as 
banks  to  the  river  to  prevent  its  expansion  and  diffusion  as 
it  enters  the  sea.  Where  the  banks  of  a  river  extend  boldly 
into  the  ocean  a  bar  never  exists.  In  delta  forming  rivers, 
they  are  always  found. 

Captain  Eads  reasoned  that  if  bars  result  from  the 


4|#- 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  221 

diffusion  of  the  alluvium-laden  river  water,  fan-like, 
after  entering  the  sea,  the  remedy  was  to  prevent  such 
diffusion.  An  examination  of  the  passes  showed  a  nar- 
row and  uniform  width  of  channel  until  a  point  within 
seven  miles  of  the  bar,  the  latter  being  three  miles  be- 
yond land's  end.  The  Mississippi  was  extending  its 
own  banks  into  the  Gulf  "  at  the  rate  of  eight  to  nine 
inches  per  day  " !  Eads  decided  that  the  bar  would  not 
continue  to  advance  seaward  if  jetties  were  constructed. 
The  river  averaged  sixty  feet  in  depth  between  the  bar 
and  the  city  of  New  Orleans ;  but  on  the  bar,  it  rapidly 
shoaled  to  twelve  and  seventeen  feet.  This  was  the 
problem  Captain  Eads  grappled  at  South  Pass.  He 
tried  for  a  deep,  open,  permanent  outlet,  without  locks, 
agreed  to  maintain  the  jetties  for  nine  years,  and  they 
were  not  to  be  paid  for  then  unless  entirely  successful. 
The  terms  of  the  contract  showed  the  confidence  of  the 
engineer  in  his  theories.  The  achievement  was  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  in  modern  engineering. 

The  jetties  w^ere  formed  by  layers  of  brush  mat- 
tresses, weighted  with  forty  to  fifty  pounds  of  broken 
stone  to  the  square  foot  and  capped  with  a  heavy  con- 
crete wall.  Up  to  the  level  of  mean  high  water,  the 
jetty-structure  consisted  of  tiers  of  mattresses  two  feet 
in  thickness,  made  of  willow  brush,  held  together  by  a 
top  and  bottom  framework  of  yellow  pine,  and  braced  at 
the  sides  with  three-by-six-inch  timber.  These  mat- 
tresses were  in  two  hundred  feet  lengths  and  varied  in 
width  from  ninety-five  feet  for  bottom  layers  to  thirty- 
five  feet  at  the  top.  The  isolated  position  of  the  work 
necessitated  the  construction  of  quarters  for  the  work- 
men, and  thus  the  town  of  Port  Eads  came  into  ex- 
istence.    A  flotilla  of  tugs  and  barges  was  employed 


222  The  Mississippi 

in  bringing  materials  and  provisions  from  New  Or- 
leans. 

Although  the  initial  experiment  of  the  Eads  system 
of  improving  the  Mississippi's  entrance  to  the  sea  was 
tried  at  South  Pass, — primarily  because  official  influence 
was  strong  enough  to  prevent  the  test  at  South-west 
Pass — complete  success  of  the  concessionaire  compelled 
the  adoption  of  the  same  methods  for  the  latter.  In- 
crease in  the  draft  of  ocean  steamships  and  the  prospec- 
tive completion  of  the  Panama  Canal,  which  will  bring 
New  Orleans  into  direct  communication  with  the  com- 
merce of  the  Far  East,  counselled  the  creation  of  a 
channel  of  thirty-five  feet  depth.  The  contract  for 
the  improvement  of  South-west  Pass  was  awarded  to 
Christie  &  Lowe  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Cornelius  Donovan, 
United  States  Assistant  Engineer,  supervised  the  con- 
struction. The  Eads  system  of  willow  mattresses  and 
broken  stone,  with  concrete  capping,  was  employed. 
The  two  jetties,  17,000  feet  long  on  the  eastern  bank 
and  11,000  feet  on  the  western,  were  completed  in  the 
spring  of  1908.  The  quantities  of  materials  used  in 
the  construction  were  1,085,830  square  yards  of  mat- 
tress, 337,426  tons  of  rip-rap  stone — brought  from 
Birmingham,  Alabama, — and  44,511  cubic  yards  of  con- 
crete.    The  contractors  were  paid  $2,629,360.35. 

This  achievement  converted  New  Orleans  into  one 
of  the  deep-water  ports  of  the  world. 

North-east  Pass  is  in  the  hands  of  United  States 
engineers,  not  with  a  view  to  rendering  it  navigable  for 
ocean  steamships  but  as  a  chute  for  carrying  off  sur- 
plus water  during  floods.  It  had  a  formidable  crevasse, 
opening  directly  into  the  Gulf.  Into  this  was  dumped 
thousands  of  tons  of  concrete  blocks  and  broken  stone. 


A^"" 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  223 

A  ditch,  three  feet  wide  in  1872,  afterwards  widened 
to  2230  feet!  A  closure  was  made  in  1898  by  a  dam 
6600  feet  long;  but  on  the  night  of  its  completion,  one 
of  the  worst  storms  known  to  the  coast  carried  away 
170  feet  of  the  dam,  which  breach  had  widened  by  June, 
1907,  to  1029  feet.  The  break  has  since  been  closed 
and  is  under  permanent  control. 


Delta  of  the  Mississippi  223 

A  ditch,  three  feet  wide  in  1872,  afterwards  widened 
to  2230  feet!  A  closure  was  made  in  1898  by  a  dam 
6600  feet  long;  but  on  the  night  of  its  completion,  one 
of  the  worst  storms  known  to  the  coast  carried  away 
170  feet  of  the  dam,  which  breach  had  widened  by  June, 
1907,  to  1029  feet.  The  break  has  since  been  closed 
and  is  under  permanent  control. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Joining  the  Great  River  to  the  Great  Lakes 

AGITATION  for  the  creation  of  a  deep-water 
route  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Mississippi 
and  thence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  has  taken  defi- 
nite shape  since  the  completion  of  the  Chicago  Drain- 
age Canal,  uniting  Lake  Michigan  with  the  Illinois 
River.  That  enterprise  was  carried  through  solely  by 
the  city  of  Chicago,  at  an  expense  of  $50,000,000,  and 
that  populous  and  enterprising  municipality  is  willing 
to  contribute  its  canal  if  the  national  government  will 
guarantee  the  maintenance  of  a  fourteen-foot  channel 
from  Chicago  to  the  sea. 

The  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  extends  from  the 
mouth  of  Chicago  River  to  within  sight  of  Joliet  Lake, 
below  Lockport:  it  is  navigable  the  entire  distance  of 
thirty-six  miles  by  vessels  drawing  twenty  feet  of  water. 
IMuch  of  the  distance  Avas  through  solid  rock,  a  soft 
limestone.  In  offering  this  splendid  improvement  to 
the  government,  Chicago  stipulates  that  a  fourteen-foot 
channel  be  maintained  in  the  Illinois  and  IMississippi 
rivers  to  Saint  Louis.  Army  engineers  report  that 
such  a  channel  which  will  be  easy  of  maintenance  can 
be  constructed  for  $31,000,000.  Congress  has  in- 
structed the  ^lississippi  River  Commission  to  make  a 
survey  and  estimate  of  the  cost  for  continuing  the 
channel  from  Saint  Louis  to  New  Orleans.     This  plan 


Joining  the  Great  River  to  the  Great  Lakes     225 

to  connect  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  Mississippi, 
through  which  the  sea  can  be  reached,  is  equal  in  im- 
portance to  the  construction  of  the  Panama  CanaL 
Better  internal  water  communication  is  imperative  to 
meet  the  growing  demands  for  more  prompt  trans- 
portation at  periods  of  railroad  congestion.  Proof  of 
the  value  and  earning  capacity  of  such  a  deep  water 
canal  as  proposed  is  seen  in  the  splendid  success  of 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal,  connecting  Lakes  Superior 
and  Huron,  the  freight  traffic  through  which  exceeds 
fifty-five  million  tons  annually.  According  to  Repre- 
sentative Joseph  E.  Ransdell,  of  Louisiana,  "  The  total 
cost  of  government  improvements  on  the  Great  Lakes 
has  been  about  $70,000,000,  and  the  saving  on  the  com- 
merce through  the  '  Soo '  alone  in  one  year  (1905)  was 
nearly  two  and  one  half  times  as  much  as  the  entire 
cost  of  all  our  improvements  on  the  lake  system."  ^ 

The  total  cost  of  the  projected  improvements  that 
will  enable  steamships  of  fourteen-foot  draught  to  deliver 
grain  loaded  at  Duluth  or  Chicago  at  Havana,  Colon, 
or  Liverpool  will  exceed  $100,000,000, — a  sum  which 
the  State  of  New  York  is  expending  to  provide  a  barge 
canal  from  Lake  Erie  through  the  Hudson  to  the 
metropolis.  The  problem'  from  Lockport  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Missouri,  which  enters  the  Mississippi  twenty 
odd  miles  below  the  confluence  of  the  Illinois  River,  is 
comparatively  simple;  but  the  route  below  that  point 
presents  many  difficulties.  The  INIissouri  carries  so 
much  soil  that  fifteen  feet  of  silt  are  often  deposited 
in  one  place  during  a  year.  The  channel  below  Saint 
Louis  has  an  average  depth  of  eight  to  nine  feet,  but 

1  Speech  of  Joseph  E.  Ransdell  in  House  of  Representatives,  Jan. 
31,  1907. 


i' 


2  26  The  Mississippi 

it  is  constantly  shifting.  Sand-bars  created  in  a  year 
are  often  carried  away  in  a  week's  time.  Dredging  in 
such  places  is  useless.  Therefore,  it  is  evident  that  the 
difficulties  of  maintaining  a  deep  waterway  between 
Saint  Louis  and  Natchez,  at  which  point  the  river  be- 
comes deep  enough  for  battleships  (as  recently  sho-wn 
by  a  visit  of  the  Mississippi  to  that  city),  surpass 
those  presented  by  the  Panama  Canal.  They  are  not 
insurmountable,  however,  if  we  may  believe  statements 
of  competent  engineers. 

While  President  of  the  United  States,  Theodore 
Roosevelt  took  an  active  interest  in  all  plans  to  improve 
transportation  facilities  throughout  the  ^Mississippi 
Valley.  In  one  of  his  memorable  addresses,  during  his 
triumphant  trip  down  the  mighty  river,  he  said: 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  is  politically  and  commer- 
cially more  important  than  any  other  valley  on  the  face  of 
the  globe.  Here,  more  than  anywhere  else,  will  be  determined 
the  future  of  the  United  States,  and,  indeed,  of  the  whole 
western  world;  and  the  type  of  civilisation  reached  in  this 
mighty  valley,  in  this  vast  stretch  of  country  lying  between 
the  Alleghanies  and  the  Rockies,  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Gulf,  will  largely  fix  the  type  of  civilisation  for  the  whole 
western  hemisphere. 

Twenty-two  States  are  included  in  the  Mississippi 
Basin.  They  comprise  forty  per  cent,  of  the  total 
area  of  the  United  States  and  produce  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  its  exports.  The  bulk  of  our  agricultural  pro- 
ducts, nearly  two  thirds  of  our  manufacturing  indus- 
tries, and  about  ten  billion  dollars'  worth  of  finished 
merchandise  come  from  its  valley.  Until  recently,  rail- 
roads have  been  able  to  keep  pace  with  its  transporta- 
tion demands,  but  such  has  been  the  development  during 


i   =:  ra 


Joining  the  Great  River  to  the  Great  Lakes    227 

the  past  decade  that  traffic  must  again  seek  the  water- 
waj^s  belonging  to  the  arterial  system  of  this  mammotli 
river.  A  fourteen-foot  channel  from  Saint  Louis  to 
New  Orleans  would  go  farther  to  relieve  the  entire 
Middle  West  and  South-west  than  any  other  national 
improvement  that  could  be  undertaken.  With  such  a 
depth  of  water  a  single  powerful  towboat  would  carry 
from  thirty  to  forty  train-loads. 

Systematic  plans  for  improving  the  navigation  of 
the  upper  IMississippi  by  deepening  its  channels  were 
inaugurated  in  1902  at  Quincy,  Illinois.  A  convention 
of  representatives  from  every  city  and  town  between 
Saint  Paul  and  Saint  Louis  was  held  and  "  The  Upper 
Mississippi  River  Improvement  Association "  took 
form.  The  second  meeting  was  held  at  Dubuque.  The 
River  and  Harbour  Committee  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives is  asked  at  each  session  of  Congress  to  appro- 
priate money  to  procure  and  maintain  a  navigable 
channel  of  six  feet,  at  low  water.  Excessive  railroad 
freights  will  restore  the  steamboat  to  pre-eminence. 
The  lumber  business  of  the  North  is  almost  at  an  end : 
lumber  is  now  shipped  North  from  southern  pine  dis- 
tricts, and  the  consumers  on  the  upper  river  are 
clamorous  to  bring  it  by  water.  Opinion  is  that  the 
Mississippi  must  at  no  distant  day  again  bear  the 
burden  of  a  mighty  internal  commerce.  Precedent  is 
found  in  France,  where  hundreds  of  millions  of  francs 
have  been  spent  in  internal  waterways.  Commerce 
that  uses  these  improvements  is  created  by  them.  Al- 
though it  exceeds  in  volume  the  maritime  commerce  of 
the  Republic,  railway  traffic  has  steadily  grown,  de- 
spite competition.  Americans  must  remember  that  the 
areas  of  the  five  States  preaching  this  propaganda  for 


228  The  Mississippi 

Mississippi  improvement  are  almost  twice  that  of 
France. 

The  Mississippi  steamboat  traffic  of  to-day  is  largely 
coal  from  the  Ohio  River  and  its  tributaries.  There 
was  a  period  in  the  history  of  the  West  when  the  great 
river  from  New  Orleans  to  Saint  Paul  was  crowded 
with  steamboats  carrying  thousands  of  passengers  and 
many  thousand  tons  of  freight.  The  railroads  have 
destroyed  that  industry. 

The  first  steamboat  to  plough  the  waters  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  built  at  Pittsburg  in  1810,  by  Nicholas 
J.  Roosevelt,  great-great-granduncle  of  ex-President 
Roosevelt,  backed  by  Robert  R.  Livingston  and  Robert 
Fulton.  She  was  a  stern-wheeler,  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  beam,  named  New 
Orleans.  She  had  two  masts  and  was  painted  sky 
blue!  She  cost  $38,000.  Starting  from  Pittsburg, 
September  24,  1811,  she  reached  Natchez  on  December 
24th  and  New  Orleans  on  January  10,  1812.  The 
actual  running  time  was  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
hours,  the  speed  being  seven  and  one  half  miles  an  hour, 
with  the  current.  This  boat  never  attempted  to  ascend 
the  river  farther  than  Natchez.  After  use  as  a  packet 
between  New  Orleans  and  that  city,  she  ran  on  a  snag 
and  sank. 

Fifty-nine  steamboats  were  engaged  in  traffic  on  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  by  1819,  most  of  them  built  at 
Ohio  River  towns.  The  Zebulon  M.  Pike,  a  boat 
of  thirty-seven  tons,  was  first  to  ascend  the  Mississippi 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  touching  at  Saint  Louis 
on  August  2,  1817.  The  Independence,  built  at  Pitts- 
burg in  1818,  was  the  first  steamboat  to  stem  the  strong 
current  of  the  Missouri,  ascending  it  to  Boonsville,  two 


Joining  the  Great  River  to  the  Great  Lakes    229 

hundred  miles  above  the  river's  mouth,  in  May,  1819. 
In  the  same  year,  the  Western  Engineer,  seventy-five 
feet  long,  ascended  the  Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs,  six 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Saint  Louis  by  the  river 
course.  In  1823,  the  Virginia  first  ascended  by  steam 
to  Fort  St.  Anthony  (afterwards  known  as  Fort 
Snelling) . 

Steamboating  on  the  Mississippi  reached  its  culmi- 
nating point  a  short  time  before  the  Civil  War.  On 
the  upper  river,  the  maximum  was  attained  in  1857, 
with  ninety-nine  steamboats  landing  at  Saint  Paul :  but 
they  chiefly  carried  freight,  as  the  passenger  arrivals 
at  the  outpost  of  civilisation  were  only  nine  hundred  and 
sixtj^-five,  or  less  than  ten  passengers  to  a  trip.  The 
maximum  of  steamboat  traffic  on  the  lower  river  is 
found  in  New  Orleans  records  for  the  year  ending 
August,  1860,  which  show  3245  arrivals  from  river 
ports,  785  from  sea  ports;  $289,565,000  in  value  of  the 
river  commerce  received  and  despatched,  and  $183,- 
725,000  of  ocean  imports  and  exports.  The  Ohio  River 
was  always  the  largest  traffic  feeder. 

Any  account  of  Mississippi  steamboat  traffic  would 
be  incomplete  without  mention  of  the  historic  race 
from  New  Orleans  to  Saint  Louis,  between  the  Robert 
E.  Lee  and  the  Natchez  in  1870.  I  heard  the  story 
thus: 

Captain  T.  P.  Leathers,  of  the  Natchez,  a  Cincinnati  bnilt 
boat,  made  the  trip  from  New  Orleans  to  Saint  Louis,  one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy -eight  miles  up-stream,  in 
three  days,  twenty-one  hours  and  fifty-eight  minutes.  He 
arrived  on  June  24,  1870,  and  wired  the  fact  to  Captain  John 
W.  Cannon,  commander  of  the  Rohcrt  E.  Lee,  a  New  Albany 
built  craft  and  rival  of  the  Natchez.    Cannon  knew  it  was  a 


230  The  Mississippi 

challenge  and  began  to  prepare  for  the  return  of  the  'Natchez. 
He  lightened  the  Lee  in  every  possible  way  and  arranged  for 
coal  barges  to  be  anchored  in  mid-stream  at  various  points 
along  the  river.     He  refused  all  freight  or  passengers. 

The  Natchez  returned  to  the  Crescent  City,  took  several 
hundred  tons  of  freight  and  a  few  passengers,  and  started  for 
Saint  Louis  at  five  o'clock,  June  30th.  The  Lee  swung  into 
the  stream  at  the  same  moment.  Captain  Leathers  had  been 
informed  of  the  preparations  of  the  Lee's  commander.  It  was 
a  race  from  the  start!  At  first,  only  the  people  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  looked  on;  but  before  the  end  of  twenty-four 
hours,  the  entire  population  of  the  United  States  was  follow- 
ing telegraphic  accounts  of  the  contest.  The  Lee  gained 
slightly  every  hundred  miles.  At  Natchez,  three  hundred 
miles  from  the  starting  point,  she  was  ten  minutes  ahead, 
because  the  Natchez  had  made  two  landings  for  coal  and 
wood. 

At  the  Vicksburg  bend,  although  the  two  boats  were  ten 
miles  apart  by  the  river's  course,  their  smoke  commingled. 
More  people  stood  upon  the  shore  at  Helena  than  at  any  time 
since  De  Soto  was  there!  Forty  thousand  men,  women,  and 
children  watched  the  steamers  pass  Memphis  without  making 
a  landing.  The  Natchez  had  cut  dowTi  the  Lee's  lead,  be- 
cause Leathers  had  adopted  Cannon's  method  of  taking  fuel; 
but  in  the  bend  near  Island  No.  10  she  ran  aground  and 
lost  six  hours!  The  Lee  arrived  at  Saint  Louis  only  thirty- 
three  minutes  ahead  of  the  previous  record  of  the  Natchez! 
Captain  Cannon  was  "  lionised,"  although  opinion  ever  will 
be  divided  regarding  the  relative  speeds  of  the  two  boats. 
The  South  was  not  rich  in  those  days;  but  more  than 
$1,000,000  changed  hands  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  on  the 
result  of  that  race. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Age  of  Water 

STEAMBOAT  traffic  upon  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  almost  disappeared  toward  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  centur3\  Railroads  paralleled 
these  great  rivers,  reached  the  towns  upon  their  banks, 
and,  until  the  extraordinary  crops  of  1906,  were  able  to 
carry  the  products  of  the  earth  from  farmer  to  con- 
sumer and  to  return  to  the  former  such  merchandise, 
machinery,  or  food  as  he  needed.  Suddenly,  as  ap- 
peared, the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  railroads  for  the 
purpose  of  moving  that  great  crop  was  demonstrated. 
Congestion  existed  in  every  part  of  the  country.  It 
was  not  confined  to  any  particular  locality.  There  were 
not  cars  enough  upon  which  to  load  the  mountains  of 
accumulated  freight;  there  were  not  locomotives  suf- 
ficient to  draw  the  miles  of  cars  filled  to  their  utmost 
carrying  capacity;  there  were  not  new  rails  in  exist- 
ence, adequate  for  doubling  the  trackage  of  existing 
lines;  men  were  not  to  be  spared  from  other  activities 
to  mine  the  iron  ore,  to  smelt  it,  or  to  lay  the  steel 
rails  after  they  were  rolled.  Terminals  for  the  proper 
handling  of  the  enormous  quantities  of  freight  were 
utterly  inadequate.  The  amount  of  capital  invested  in 
the  railroad  systems  of  the  United  States  had  gro^vn 
to  $17,000,000,000,  and  every  dollar  so  invested  had 
added  ten  dollars  to  the  wealth  of  the  country.     "  More 

231 


232  The  Mississippi 

railroads,  more  engines,  more  cars,  more  terminal  area !  " 
was  the  cry;  but  as  wise  a  man  as  James  J.  Hill  at 
once  showed  that  the  money  necessary  to  provide  pre- 
sent relief — at  least  $5,000,000,000 — could  not  be  de- 
voted to  that  work  without  paralysing  other  branches 
of  business.  He  further  demonstrated  that  were  the 
rails  ready,  the  men  at  hand  to  lay  them,  and  the  en- 
gines and  cars  built,  the  relief  would  only  be  temporary. 
Therefore,  the  master  minds  in  railroad  transportation 
were  among  the  first  to  point  to  a  necessary  resumption 
of  river  traffic.     H2O  again  came  to  the  fore! 

The  agitation  broke  out  sporadically  in  various  parts 
of  the  country.  New  York  State  was  digging  a  barge 
canal  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie.  Chicago  had 
completed  a  drainage  canal,  primarily  to  carry  the  al- 
most stagnant  waters  of  Chicago  Creek  into  the  Illinois 
River  and  thence  to  the  JNIississippi,  in  order  that  the 
sewerage-laden  stream  should  not  flow  into  Lake  INIichi- 
gan  and  infect  the  city's  drinking  water.  Consideration 
for  the  health  of  the  people  of  Saint  Louis,  who  took 
their  water  from  the  Mississippi,  was  overlooked  in  the 
enthusiasm  of  those  who  prosecuted  the  splendid  enter- 
prise. But  the  size  and  efficiency  of  the  canal,  when 
water  began  to  flow  through  its  broad  channel,  sug- 
gested a  deep-water  highway  from  the  Great  Lakes 
to  the  Mississippi  and  thence  to  the  Gulf  of  INIexico. 

Delegates  and  representative  business  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  Middle  West  assembled  in  convention  at 
Saint  Louis  in  November,  1906,  and  formed  the  Lakes- 
to-Gulf  Deep  Waterway  Association.  This  organisa- 
tion sent  a  representative  committee  to  Washington 
in  December  of  the  same  year,  urging  upon  the  Presi- 
dent and  members  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  the 


-Pic 


The  Age  of  Water  233 

creation  of  a  Commission  "  to  prepare  and  to  report 
a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  improvement  and  control 
of  the  JNIississippi  River  system  and  other  inland  water- 
ways in  such  manner  that  the  rivers  of  the  country 
may  he  fully  utilised  for  navigation  and  other  indus- 
trial purposes."  Every  city  of  importance  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  memorialised  the  President  or  Congress 
and  on  IMarch  14,  1907,  Theodore  Roosevelt  created 
the  present  Inland  Waterways  Commission  of  nine 
members.     He  said,  in  part: 

In  creating  this  Commission,  I  am  influenced  by  broad  con- 
siderations of  national  policy.  Our  inland  waterways,  as  a 
whole,  have  thus  far  received  scant  attention.  It  is  becoming 
clear  that  our  streams  should  be  considered  and  conserved  as 
great  natural  resources.  The  time  has  come  for  merging  local 
projects  and  uses  of  the  inland  waters  in  a  comprehensive 
plan  designed  for  the  benefit  of  the  entire  country.  The  task 
is  a  great  one,  yet  it  is  certainly  not  too  great  for  us  to  ap- 
proach. The  results  which  it  seems  to  promise  are  even 
greater.  The  present  congestion  afifects  chiefly  the  people  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  they  demand  relief.  When  the 
congestion  of  which  they  complain  is  relieved,  the  whole  coun- 
try will  share  the  good  results.  ...  It  is  not  possible  to 
frame  so  large  a  plan  for  the  control  of  our  rivers  without 
taking  account  of  the  orderly  development  of  other  natural 
resources.  The  cost  necessarily  will  be  large,  but  it  will  be 
small  in  comparison  with  the  billions  of  capital  now  invested 
in  steam  railways. 

The  Commission  began  active  work  in  the  spring  of 
1908,  by  inspection  trips  through  the  Great  Lakes  and 
down  the  Mississippi,  being  accompanied  from  Keokuk 
to  IMemphis  by  President  Roosevelt,  in  what  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  most  triumphal  pageants  ever  seen  in 
this  country. 


234  The  Mississippi 

•Previously,  in  oSIay  of  the  same  year,  had  occurred 
the  memorable  Conference  of  Governors  at  the  White 
House.  This  convocation  had  grown  out  of  a  sugges- 
tion made  by  William  George  Jordan,  a  young  New 
York  newspaper  man.  Its  influence  in  awakening  the 
American  people  to  the  importance  of  conserving  the 
natural  resources  of  the  broad  territory  was  momentous. 
Another  step  was  the  creation  of  a  National  Conserva- 
tion Commission  which  prepared  a  three-volume  report, 
that  is  by  far  the  most  complete  summary  of  the 
resources  of  the  United  States  ever  collected. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  the  campaign  that 
signalises  the  entrance  upon  an  Age  of  Water.  Great 
steamers  will  reappear  upon  our  broad  rivers  and  an 
industry  that  seemed  dead  for  ever  will  be  revived  in 
more  than  original  splendour. 

Mr.  W  J  McGee,  Secretary  of  the  Inland  Water- 
ways Commission,  has  compiled  some  startling  figures 
to  show  the  immensity  of  the  transportation  problem, 
as  it  exists  at  present  in  the  United  States.  There  are 
in  the  United  States  26,200  miles  of  navigable  rivers, 
Mr.  McGee  estimates,  and  2800  miles  of  canals  in 
operation  (with  nearly  as  much  more  inoperative 
or  abandoned),  w^hich  in  1904  carried  respective^, 
127,000,000  and  5,000,000  tons  of  freight.  There  are 
222,500  miles  of  railway  which,  during  1906,  carried 
1,631,374,219  tons. 

That  is  to  say,  although  the  United  States  has  a  more  ex- 
tensive and  better  distributed  natural  system  of  inland  water- 
ways than  any  other  country,  and  despite  the  fact  that  water 
carriage  costs  on  the  average  only  a  third  or  a  fourth  as  much 
as  rail  carriage,  less  than  one  ninth  of  our  freight  lines  are 
waterways,  and  only  one  twelfth  of  our  commodities  are  car- 


The  Age  of  Water  235 

ried  by  water.  And  of  our  aggregate  assets  of  say  $107,000,- 
000,000,  our  steam  railways  have  risen  to  |18,000,000,000,  or 
about  one  sixth,  which  even  at  first  sight  seems  out  of  pro- 
portion; and  the  disproportion  becomes  still  more  glaring  when 
current  production  is  compared  with  railway  earnings — the 
former  in  1006  reaching  |7,000,000,000  to  $10,000,000,000  (ac- 
cording to  mode  of  estimate  of  farm  products)  and  the  latter 
$2,?)25,7G5,1()7,  or  fully  one  fourth  as  much.  The  case  is  clear; 
we  are  employing  extravagant  agencies  and  paying  exorbitant 
rates  for  transportation;  the  prices  of  our  staples  depend  too 
little  on  cost  of  production,  too  largely  on  cost  of  carriage.^ 

According  to  careful  estimates,  two  hundred  trilhon 
cubic  feet  of  rain  descends  annually  upon  the  two  bil- 
lion acres  of  "  Uncle  Sam's  "  mainland  farm.  Again 
quoting  Commissioner  McGee,  than  whom  no  better 
authority  on  this  subject  exists,  "  Nominally,  land  sells 
by  the  acre  or  front  foot;  but,  actually,  the  price,  within 
ten  per  cent.,  is  fixed  by  the  associated  water."  Of 
course,  the  statist  refers,  primarily,  to  land  used  for 
agricultural  purposes ;  but  his  statement  is  quite  correct, 
even  when  applied  to  the  greatest  of  our  cities.  New 
York,  for  example,  omts  everything  it  is  to  the  sea. 
Without  the  hydrosphere  that  surrounds  the  earth,  there 
would  not  be  any  ocean  or  rivers.  Therefore,  there 
would  not  be  any  New  York,  with  some  of  its  land 
selling  as  high  as  $400  a  square  foot.  "The  two  hundred 
trillion  cubic  feet,  or  ten  INIississippis,  of  annual  rainfall 
is,  in  verity,  the  sole  effective  capital  of  the  country," 
continues  the  Commissioner. 

Without  it,  the  land  would  be  desert,  devoid  of  tree  or 
shrub  or  other  living  thing.  Say  five  eights  of  this  rainfall 
is  evaporated  to  temper  climate,  form  dews,  and  redescend 
1  Commissioner  W  J  McGee,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  April, 
1908. 


236  The  Mississippi 

elsewhere.  A  fifth  goes  down  to  the  sea  in  rivers.  An  eighth  is 
stored  for  a  time  as  ground  water.  The  remaining  twentieth, 
or  half  a  Mississippi's  volume,  is  stored  or  used  in  the  onto- 
sphere, — meaning  in  the  living  structures  and  functions  of 
animals  and  plants.  The  time  of  storage  is  short:  an  animal 
may  survive  a  week,  a  humid-land  annual  plant  six  weeks,  or 
a  tree  six  months,  without  renewed  supply.  Springs  fail,  and 
brooks  run  dry  under  a  three  months'  drought.  Had  we  a 
rainless  year,  half  the  lesser  rivers  of  America  would  dry  up. 
At  the  end  of  seven  such  successive  years,  the  Mississippi 
would  cease  to  flow;  within  ten  years,  the  lake-fed  St.  Law- 
rence would  be  no  more.  The  days  of  witchcraft  and  mystery 
about  water  are  ended.  Science  has  risen  to  show  that  the 
sources  of  spring  and  well  and  brook  and  river,  of  flowing 
sap  and  pulsing  blood  are  the  life-giving  benediction  of  the 
clouds. 

There  is  found  the  "  true  source  "  of  the  Mississippi. 


I 


I 


Keokuk. 
(From  a  Daguerreotype,  1847.) 


CHAPTER  XV 

The  Mississippi  in  War 

PRACTICALLY,  every  mile  of  "  The  Father  of 
Waters,"  from  Itasca  Lake  to  Natchez,  has  been 
fought  over  by  antagonistic  aboriginal  tribes. 
Except  near  the  Mississippi's  mouth  and  in  Minnesota, 
conflicts  between  natives  and  white  men  have  been  of 
small  importance.  Early  Spanish  adventurers,  seek- 
ing gold  and  finding  it  not,  vented  their  disappoint- 
ments upon  the  natives ;  their  inhuman  conduct  is  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  deadly  hatred  displayed  by  the  In- 
dian toward  the  invaders  of  his  hunting  grounds  and 
the  destroyers  of  his  villages.  Pledges  of  good  faith 
made  by  the  strangers  were  generally  broken,  and  in 
nearly  every  way  the  white  man  fixed  the  standard  for 
treachery  that  the  red  man  adopted.  Tales  of  Spanish 
brutalities  passed  from  tongue  to  tongue,  through  many 
different  native  languages  and  dialects,  losing  nothing 
in  repetition,  up  the  length  of  the  mighty  river  and 
thence,  through  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  as  far  as 
the  ice-bound  coast  of  Pludson  Bay. 

The  anthropoid  of  the  copper-hued  countenance  de- 
voted three  centuries,  a  brief  space  according  to  his 
spare  mind,  to  "  getting  even "  with  the  pale-faced 
intruder. 

I STRUGGLES  WITH  THE   INDIANS 

The  French  in  the  North-west  tried  the  blandish- 

237 


238  The  Mississippi 

ments  of  religion  and  of  cajolery.  The  effect  of  the 
great  feast  given  b}^  Radisson  in  the  country  of  the 
Illinois  endured  for  several  generations.  The  example 
of  patience  under  such  afflictions  as  famine  and  pesti- 
lence was  most  salutar3\  Crude,  untutored  minds 
comprehended  that  bravery  was  not  entirely  confined 
to  the  war-path  and  battle-field.  The  savages  saw 
pale,  thin-visaged  priests  come  among  them,  alone  and 
unarmed,  and  they  recognised  the  sublimity  of  a  faith 
that  sustained  them.  They  marked  the  diffea-ence  be- 
tween the  religion  of  the  Spaniard  and  that  of  the 
French-  Canadian. 

Largely  due  to  the  Spaniards  who  had  preceded 
him,  Iberville,  a  French-Canadian  military  and  naval 
commander,  sent  to  Louisiana  in  1699,  built  Fort 
Biloxi  and  a  fort  upon  the  Mississippi;  but  he  paid 
a  visit  to  the  Natchez  with  Tonty  and  left  the  country 
without  taking  the  life  of  a  single  native.  Bienville, 
who  succeeded  him,  and  was  in  turn  followed  by 
Cadillac,  was  sent  by  the  latter  to  attack  the  same  tribe. 
This  developed  what  is  known  in  history  as  the  first 
Natchez  war.  The  pretext  for  the  expedition  was  the 
murder  of  four  Frenchmen  by  the  Natchez,  and  Bien- 
ville started  with  less  than  sixty  soldiers  and  boatmen 
to  make  reprisal  on  a  tribe  of  eight  hundred  warriors! 
Cadillac  hoped  for  Bienville's  defeat,  for  he  had  re- 
fused to  marry  the  Governor's  daughter, — he,  a 
Canadian  adventurer,  although  for  a  time  Governor  of 
Louisiana  province,  had  rejected  an  alliance  with  the 
proud  French  family  of  Cadillac!  Bienville  employed 
diplomacy,  which  is  another  word  for  falsehood.  He 
went  to  an  island  occupied  by  the  Tunicas,  not  far 
from  the  Natchez,  and  sent  word  that  he  desired  to 


The  Mississippi  in  War  239 

locate  a  mill  or  factory  in  the  Natchez  countiy.  Tlic 
chiefs  of  the  latter  tribe  were  suspicious  but  were  finally 
persuaded  to  visit  Bienville.  The  latter  had  sent  boat- 
men past  the  Natchez  capital,  in  the  darkness  of  night, 
to  post  upon  the  trees  affiches  of  warning  to  all  French- 
men descending  the  Mississippi.  These  untruthfully 
stated:  "  The  Natchez  have  declared  war  against  the 
French,  and  ^I.  de  Bienville  is  encamped  at  the 
Tunicas." 

The  Natchez  chiefs  arrived  at  Bienville's  head- 
quarters on  ]May  8,  1716.  When  the  calumet  was 
offered  to  him,  Bienville  declined  and  demanded  re- 
paration for  the  murder  of  the  Frenchmen.  The  chiefs 
were  greatly  surprised,  supposing  that  the  French 
'Governor  at  New  Orleans  was  uninformed  of  the 
tragedy.  The  envoys  were  put  in  chains.  At  night- 
fall, Bienville  sent  for  the  principal  chief,  "  Great  Sun  " 
and  his  two  brothers,  "The  Stung  Serpent  "  and  "Little 
Sun,"  and  told  them  he  would  spare  their  lives  on  con- 
dition that  the  heads,  not  merely  the  scalps,  of  the  mur- 
derers of  the  four  Frenchmen  were  delivered  to  him. 
"Blood  for  blood!"  he  exclaimed.  "I  am  known  as 
'  The  Arrow  of  Uprightness  '  and  *  The  Tomahawk  of 
Justice.'  "  It  was  agreed  that  "  Little  Sun  "  should 
return  to  the  Natchez  and  secure  the  heads  of  the  mur- 
derers. He  came  back  with  three  heads,  but  confessed 
that  the  principal  culprit  had  fled  into  the  forest;  his 
head  not  being  obtainable,  that  of  his  brother  had  been 
brought,  instead.     Bienville  was  not  satisfied. 

In  the  meantime,  twenty-two  Frenchmen  and  Cana- 
dians, descending  the  river,  had  seen  Bienville's  pro- 
clamations and  had  joined  him.  This  brought  his 
fighting  strength  to  seventy-two  men.     The   Tunicas 


240  The  Mississippi 

gave  information  of  an  intended  attack  by  the  Natchez, 
to  release  their  chiefs.  The  Tunicas  offered  forty  braves ; 
but  Bienville,  fearing  treacherj%  dechned  their  help. 
That  attack  was  not  made,  probably  owing  to  a  threat 
by  Bienville  that  he  would  cut  the  throat  of  each 
chief,  big  and  little,  the  moment  the  Natchez  made  their 
appearance.  The  river  began  to  overflow  the  island 
on  which  Bienville  was  encamped ;  he  therefore  executed 
a  treaty  by  which  the  natives  agreed  to  cut  and  deliver 
logs  for  a  stockade  at  Natchez.  Bienville  released  all 
his  captives,  except  one,  whom  he  connected  with  the 
murders.  He,  "  Chief  of  the  Beard,"  was  shot,  in  the 
presence  of  the  other  captives.  Bienville  had  con- 
quered the  Natchez  by  the  trick  of  getting  their  chiefs 
into  his  clutches  and  keeping  them  until  he  secured 
terms  that  suited  him. 

The  fort  was  built  by  the  natives,  in  keeping  with 
their  promise,  and  was  occupied  on  August  3,  1716. 
Thus  did  two  distinct  and  antagonistic  races  sit  down 
to  watch  each  other. 

Bienville  left  Aid-Major  Pailloux  in  command  at 
the  fort  and  departed  for  Mobile,  where  he  arrived  on 
October  4th.  He  was  rejoiced  to  find  that  Cadillac 
had  been  deposed,  and  Bienville  received  a  letter  from 
the  ]Minister  of  ^larine  reappointing  him  Governor,  to 
supplant  De-  I'Epinay,  Cadillac's  successor. 

Fully  a  century  later,  the  scene  shifts  to  the  upper 
]\Iississippi.  The  French  and  the  Chippewas  between 
Take  Superior  and  the  Wisconsin  River  had  driven  the 
Renards,  or  Fox  Indians  to  the  Avest  bank  of  the  great 
river,  where  they  coalesced  with  another  tribe  of  the 
Algonquin  nation,  the  Sauks,  or  Sacs.  After  the  Illi- 
nois country  and  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi 


W^P^^^^ 


-   •—    ? 


mFw0A 


The  Mississippi  in  War  241 

came  into  the  possession  of  the  United  States,  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes  maintained  stubborn  resistance  to  the  ad- 
vance of  the  white  man  culminating,  in  1832,  in  what 
is  known  as  the  "Black  Hawk  War."  Colonel  Zachary 
Taylor  took  an  active  part  in  that  campaign.  The 
leader  of  the  revolt  against  the  Government  was  "  Black 
Hawk,"  who  had  been  chief  of  the  Sacs  for  almost  fifty 
years.  Below  Prairie  du  Chien  is  Bad  Axe  River;  the 
last  engagement  of  the  Black  Hawk  War  was  fought 
five  miles  south  of  that  point.  The  Sacs  and  Foxes 
were  defeated  by  United  States  troops  under  General 
Atkinson,  and  "Black  Hawk"  was  taken  prisoner. 
JNIany  battles  of  this  campaign  were  outside  what  is 
strictly  the  :Mississippi  Valley,  although  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  belonged  there. 

A  perpetual  state  of  war  continued  between  the 
Dakotas  (Sioux)  and  the  Ojibwas  (Chippewas),  for  a 
hundred  years.  The  conflict  was  waged  without  mercy ! 
The  year  1833  was  particularly  bloody.  Almost  every 
bend  in  the  ^lississippi  above  the  entrance  of  Crow 
Wing  River  had  its  tragedy.  A  battle  that  lasted  three 
days  was  fought  at  the  last  turn  in  the  river  before  it 
takes  the  plunge  at  St.  Anthony. 

The  Sioux  outbreak  in  Minnesota  in  1862  led  by 
"  Little  Crow,"  was  confined  to  the  Minnesota  River 
valley  and  hardly  belongs  in  this  volume;  but  it  was 
probably  the  last  open  revolt  of  the  natives  that  the 
citizens  of  that  region  will  know,  certain  troubles  with 
Chippewa  Indian  agents  and  lumbermen  in  1898  being 
settled  by  arbitration.  The  Sioux  knew  that  the  Civil 
War  was  in  progress  and  that  the  arms  of  the  South 
were  often  triumiDhant  over  those  of  the  North.  In 
brief,   the   Indians  realised  that  the  white  men  were 


242  The  Mississippi 

fighting  among  themselves!  It  appeared  to  be  an  aus- 
picious time  in  which  to  shake  off  a  galHng  yoke  and 
to  destroy  the  intruders.  The  brutahty  with  which  the 
settlers  at  Redwood  and  that  j^art  of  the  valley  were 
treated  was  typical  of  the  worst  period  of  aboriginal 
uprisings. 

Fugitives  fled  down  the  Minnesota  to  St.  Peters 
(now  JNIendota),  JNIankato,  and  St.  Cloud.  These 
towns  were  crowded.  Forts  Snelling  and  Ripley  were 
places  of  refuge.  Governor  Ramsey  asked  Col.  H.  H. 
Sibley  to  take  command  of  the  militia  and  to  hurry  up 
the  ^linnesota  Valley  to  the  scene  of  disturbances.  A 
detachment  of  troops  and  settlers  sent  from  Fort 
Ridgeley,  on  the  Minnesota,  to  quell  disturbances  and 
bury  the  dead  at  Birch  Coolie,  a  trading  post  eighteen 
miles  to  the  north-west,  was  surrounded  at  night  by 
three  hundred  Sioux,  and  twelve  soldiers  and  civilians 
killed.  This  was  in  the  first  week  of  September,  18G2. 
Colonel  Sibley  attacked  and  captured  the  main 
band  of  Little  Crow's  army.  The  leaders  and  all 
participants  in  the  outrages,  some  thirty  odd,  were 
hanged.^ 

II BRITISH    FINAL    DEFEAT    AT    NEW^    ORLEANS 

The  splendid  and  decisive  victory  of  the  American 
troops  on  the  Plain  of  Chalmette — known  to  history 
as  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans,  a  conflict  of  several  daj^s* 
duration,  culminating  on  January  8,  1815 — was  as  es- 
sential to  the  future  greatness  of  the  American  RepubHc 
as  was  any  engagement  of  the  Revolution.  By  Louis 
Jonte  JNIeader,  a  Louisianian  author,  it  has  been  very 

1  Heard's  History  of  the  Sioux  War.    New  York,  1864. 


The  Mississippi  in  War  243 

prettily  and  accurately  described  as  "  our  Thermopylae." 
Had  that  battle  been  lost,  although  fought  after  a  treaty 
of  peace  actually  had  been  signed,  and  the  city  of  New 
Orleans  occupied  by  British  forces,  England  would  have 
attempted  to  hold  what  had  been  known  as  "  The 
Louisiana  Province,"  despite  the  treaty,  under  the  de- 
fensible claim  that  the  Napoleonic  sale  of  1803,  by  which 
the  United  States  acquired  the  territory  from  France, 
was  void,  because  that  nation  did  not  possess  a 
valid  title  to  the  Province.  The  gravity  of  such  a  com- 
plication is  tremendous,  when  we  remember  that  another 
war  would  have  been  necessary  to  acquire  the  vast 
wedge  of  territoiy  to-day  comprising  our  Western 
States.  The  Pacific  coast  might  never  have  become  a 
part  of  this  Rei)ublic! 

The  battle  itself  was  a  brilliant  achievement, — one 
that  will  always  reflect  honour  upon  the  commander  and 
credit  upon  the  brave  frontiersmen  who  did  such  effective 
execution  upon  the  enemy.  An  invading  army  of  four- 
teen thousand,  including  ten  thousand  seasoned  veteran 
British  troops,  was  crushingly  defeated  by  thirty-two 
hundred  raw  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  militia  and 
Louisiana  Creoles.  The  disparitj^  of  loss  was  as  re- 
markable as  the  victory  and  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  woodsmen  used  the  musket  of  the  period  as  an 
arm  of  precision. 

The  abdication  of  Napoleon  at  Fontainebleau,  April 
11,  1814,  and  the  temporary  pacification  of  Europe 
consequent  on  that  event,  decided  the  British  Cabinet 
to  prosecute  the  war  against  the  LTnited  States  with 
the  utmost  vigour.  Veterans  of  the  Peninsular  Cam- 
paign were  re-embarked  at  Plymouth  in  the  fall,  and 
sailed  under  sealed  orders.     On  their  way  across  the 


244  The  Mississippi 

Atlantic,  the  ships  touched  at  JNIadeira,  October  8th,  at 
Barbadoes  and  had  rendezvous  at  Negro  Bay,  Jamaica. 
There,  the  British  fleet  was  joined  by  four  thousand 
troops  under  General  Keane,  a  young  Irish  officer 
who  had  followed  from  Plymouth.  The  combined 
forces,  in  fifty  vessels,  reached  the  Louisiana  coast 
on  November  29th.  Anchoring  between  Ship  and  Cat 
Islands,  near  the  entrance  to  Lake  Borgne,  the  com- 
mander of  the  expedition  hoped  to  land  before  his  pre- 
sence on  the  coast  was  known  and  to  take  the  Americans 
by  surprise.  Commander  Daniel  T.  Patterson,  in 
charge  of  the  Naval  Station  at  New  Orleans,  received 
word  of  the  presence  of  the  British  and  sent  five  gun- 
boats, a  tender,  and  a  despatch  boat  to  the  passes  of 
Mariana  and  Christian  to  watch  the  enemy.  A  pre- 
liminary fight  occurred  there.  The  American  vessels, 
under  Lieutenant  Thomas  Catesby-Jones  were  discov- 
ered by  the  British.  His  force  consisted  of  only  one 
hundred  and  eighty-two  men  and  twenty-three  guns. 
His  flagship  was  a  small  sloop  of  eighty  tons.  The 
British  attacked  in  sixty  barges,  under  Captain  Lockyer, 
and  with  such  overwhelming  numbers  won  a  victory, 
giving  to  them  control  of  Lake  Borgne.  Troops  -were 
landed  between  the  16th  and  20th  of  December,  under 
command  of  General  Keane. 

Jackson  had  reached  ^lobile  on  November  11,  1814, 
after  the  evacuation  of  Pensacola  by  the  British  and 
Spaniards.  There  he  received  despatches  from  New 
Orleans  begging  him  to  hurry  to  its  defence.  Several 
English  vessels  were  already  in  the  neighbourhood; 
their  commander,  Captain  Lockyer,  was  in  communi- 
cation with  British  sympathisers  ashore.  In  this  con- 
nection, Lockyer  committed  a  blunder  that  led  to  the 


The  Mississippi  in  War  245 

disclosure  of  his  plans  hy  one  Jean  Lafitte  to  General 
Jackson. 

Here  occurs  a  highlj^  romantic  episode  that  must 
always  be  associated  with  the  final  grapple  of  American 
and  Briton  for  the  independence  of  the  States.  A  com- 
munity of  smugglers  had  headquarters  on  a  marshy 
island,  Grande  Terre,  at  the  Gulf  entrance  to  Barataria 
Bay,  sixty  miles  south-west  of  New  Orleans.  This 
broad  bit  of  bay  afforded  a  sheltered  harbour,  in  which 
the  small  craft  of  the  Baratarians  lay  in  shallow  water 
beyond  gun  reach  of  ships  of  the  line.  Jean  Lafitte, 
chief  of  these  outlaws,  is  the  American  pet  buccaneer. 
He  is  our  "  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,"  although 
he  never  was  a  corsair  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word, 
because  never  guilty  of  a  crime  against  humanity  but 
only  a  defier  of  revenue  and  neutrality  laws.  In  this 
particular,  he  differed  from  Captain  Kidd,  who  was 
an  inhuman  monster.  Kidd  w^as  an  Englishman.  He 
once  lived  in  Wall  Street,  New  York.  Curiously,  the 
first  "  Trust "  company  was  organised  in  his  house, 
after  he  had  been  hanged  in  England.  He  proved  his 
fidelity  to  his  mother  countiy  by  going  home  for  trial 
and  execution.  Lafitte  was  born  in  Bordeaux,  France, 
learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  there:  he  came  to  New 
Orleans,  established  a  forge  in  St.  Phihp  Street  and 
was  a  law-abiding  citizen  for  several  years.  But  smug- 
gling West  Indian  licjuors  and  costly  French  mer- 
chandise into  the  populous  city  of  New  Orleans 
offered  much  greater  i)rospects  of  wealth  than  shoeing 
horses.  He  assembled  a  band  of  associates  and  settled 
at  Grande  Terre.  It  became  a  smuggler's  lair.  Never 
outside  the  Spanish  ;^L^in  was  a  worse  embodiment  of 
dauntless  courage  and  cunning  than  existed  in  Lafitte's 


246  The  Mississippi 

followers.  He  had  several  hundred  expert  gunners  and 
sharpshooters.  In  addition,  the  Baratarians,  as  they 
liked  to  be  called,  possessed  a  squadron  of  swift,  well- 
armed  vessels  that  would  have  been  of  inestimable 
service  to  the  British  commander.  Knowing  that  the 
Government  at  Washington  had  proscribed  Lafitte  and 
that  the  brother  of  the  Baratarian  chief  was  already  in 
prison  at  New  Orleans,  Captain  Lockyer  naturally  ex- 
pected to  find  Lafitte  filled  with  hatred  for  the  United 
States.  He  was  in  error.  Lafitte  had  accumulated  a 
fortune  by  unlawful  depredations ;  he  wanted  to  return 
to  New  Orleans  to  enjoy  it  and  recognised  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  peace  with  the  Americans.  Self-interest, 
therefore,  rather  than  patriotism,  may  have  inspired  him 
to  send  a  letter  he  had  received  from  Captain  Lockyer 
to  John  Blanque,  a  member  of  the  Louisiana  Legisla- 
ture. In  an  accompanying  note,  Lafitte  said :  "  Though 
proscribed  by  my  country,  I  never  shall  miss  an  occa- 
sion to  serve  her,  or  to  prove  that  she  never  has  ceased 
to  be  dear  to  me." 

In  his  communication  to  Blanque,  he  also  repeated 
details  of  interviews  with  two  British  officers,  who  had 
been  sent  ashore  to  confer  with  him  and  to  deliver  the 
letter  from  their  commander.  Plans  of  the  intended 
British  operations  against  New  Orleans  were  also  in- 
closed. To  Governor  William  C.  C.  Claiborne,  Gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana,  Lafitte  addressed  the  following 
remarkable  letter: 

I  ofifer  to  restore  to  this  State  several  citizens  who,  per- 
haps, in  your  eyes,  have  lost  the  right  to  that  sacred  title.  I 
offer  them,  nevertheless,  and  they  are  all  you  could  wish  to 
find  them, — ready  to  exert  their  utmost  efforts  in  defence  of 
their  country.    All  that  I  ask  is  that  a  stop  be  put  to  the 


The  Mississippi  in  War  247 

proscription  against  mo  and  my  adherents  by  an  act  of  obliv- 
ion for  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  past.  I  decline  to  say 
■more  on  this  subject  nntil  T  have  the  honour  of  Your  Ex- 
cellency's answer;  and  should  it  not  be  favourable  to  my 
ardent  desires,  I  declare  to  you  that  I  shall  at  once  leave  the 
country,  so  that  no  imimtation  may  be  made  connecting  me 
with  the  contemplated  invasion. 

Governor  Claiborne  convened  a  council  of  leading 
citizens,  before  which  he  laid  the  letters  of  Lafitte;  the 
decision  was  to  reject  the  offer.  An  expeditionary'-  force, 
under  command  of  Colonel  Ross  of  the  United  States 
Army  and  Commodore  Patterson,  was  sent  to  Bara- 
taria,  which  attacked  the  smuggler's  stronghold  and 
captured  his  ships  and  took  many  prisoners.  The  latter 
were  taken  back  to  New  Orleans  and  put  in  prison. 

Governor  Claiborne  sent  copies  of  the  British  docu- 
ments and  Lafitte's  letters  to  General  Jackson,  who  left 
Mobile  for  New  Orleans  on  their  receipt,  arriving  De- 
cember 2,  1814.  He  established  his  headquarters  on 
Royal  Street. 

The  city  was  in  an  undefended  condition,  but,  with 
his  characteristic  energy,  Jackson  organised  the  local 
military  forces,  obstructed  the  entrances  to  the  large 
bayous,  strengthened  the  fortifications, — especially  im- 
proving Fort  St.  Philip,  on  the  Mississippi  below  the 
city.  He  openly  denounced  Lafitte,  and  opposed  "  any 
alliance  whatever  with  those  infamous  bandits,"  declar- 
ing, in  the  same  breath,  that  his  only  hope  was  to  get 
his  hands  upon  them  and  to  hang  every  one  of  them. 

While  seated  at  headquarters  a  few  days  after  the 
affair  of  Barataria,  General  Jackson  was  surprised  by 
a  call  from  Jean  Lafitte,  who,  taking  his  hfe  in  his 
hands,  braved  the  sturdy  soldier,  face  to  face.     Before 


248  The    Mississippi 

Jackson  could  order  his  arrest,  the  bandit  chieftain  re- 
newed his  patriotic  offers.  So  well  did  he  argue  his 
case  that  his  services  were  accepted  and  the  two  re- 
markable men  shook  hands.  This  conversion  of  Jack- 
son proves  the  magnetic  power  of  Lafitte,  because  "  Old 
Hickory  "  was  a  man  of  usually  inflexible  will.  All 
judicial  proceedings  against  the  Baratarians  were  sus- 
pended and  their  release  from  prison  ordered.  Jackson 
sent  some  of  these  erstwhile  pirates  to  assist  in  the 
defence  of  the  outlying  forts,  formed  a  corps  of  the 
remainder,  which  he  placed  under  the  command  of  two 
of  their  own  officers,  Dominique  You  and  Bellouche. 
The  importance  of  this  acquisition  to  Jackson's  forces 
cannot  be  overestimated.  The  Baratarians  proved  in- 
valuable during  the  preparations  for  defence,  and,  when 
the  death-grapple  came,  their  bravery  and  heroism  was 
dramatic  in  the  extreme.  Jackson  never  forgot  their 
splendid  conduct  and  made  good  his  promise  to  secure 
from  the  President  full  pardons  for  every  man  of  them. 
In  his  general  orders  of  January  21st,  after  the  battle, 
thanking  his  troops  and  particularly  those  from  Louisi- 
ana, he  mentioned  most  feelingly  the  signal  bravery 
of  Lafitte,  Bellouche,  You,  and  their  men. 

Meanwhile,  Jackson  put  New  Orleans  under  martial 
law  and  impressed  all  able-bodied  men,  except  British, 
into  military  service.  He  summoned  to  his  aid  Gen- 
erals Coffee,  Carroll,  and  Thomas ;  and  warned  General 
Winchester,  at  Mobile,  to  be  prepared  for  an  attack  at 
that  point.  The  British  occupied  Fisherman's  Village, 
at  the  head  of  the  Bayou  Bienvenu,  twelve  miles  from 
New  Orleans,  seized  the  Villere  plantation,  and  made  it 
their  headquarters.  Carroll,  Coffee,  and  other  reinforce- 
ments had  reached  Jackson  and  the  following  stations 


The  Mississippi  in  War  249 

had  been  assigned  to  them :  Carroll,  at  the  uiDper  braiicli 
of  the  Bayou  Bienvenii;  Governor  Claiborne,  with  his 
Louisiana  militia,  farther  up  the  Gentilly  road;  Coffee's 
brigade,  Planche's  and  Dankin's  battalions,  Hinds's 
dragoons,  and  the  New  Orleans  Rifles,  under  Captain 
Beale,  and  a  small  band  of  Choctaws,  under  Captain 
Jugeat,  were  ordered  to  assemble  at  JNIontreuil's  plan- 
tation, thence  to  proceed  to  Canal  Rodriguez,  six  miles 
below  the  city,  there  to  prepare  for  an  assault  upon 
the  British.  Commander  Patterson  was  ordered  down 
the  JNIississippi  to  the  flank  of  the  enemy  at  Villere's. 

Jackson  had  run  his  lines  across  two  plantations, 
from  the  river  to  the  edge  of  an  almost  impenetrable 
swamp  that  ultimately  became  a  part  of  Lake  Pontchar- 
train.  The  land  lying  between  the  river  and  the  marsh 
was  known  as  the  Plain  of  Chalmette.  There  the 
famous  battle  occurred. 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  December  23d,  the 
schooner  Carolina,  Captain  Henry,  anchored  off  Vil- 
lere's and  opened  fire  upon  the  British  camp,  throwing 
the  troops  into  confusion.  Thornton,  in  command  of 
the  British  troops  at  that  point,  attacked  Jackson  and 
w^as  repulsed.  Coffee,  following  the  levee,  flanked 
Thornton  and  made  his  defeat  decisive. 

Lieutenant-General  Pakenham,  "the  Hero  of 
Salamanca "  and  fresh  from  the  Peninsular  War, 
landed  on  Christmas  day  to  assume  command  of  the 
British  forces,  now  eight  thousand  strong.  He  ad- 
vanced his  troops  close  to  the  American  line  of  defence 
and  began  the  erection  of  earthworks  near  the  river. 
The  men  engaged  in  this  fort-building  were  attacked 
by  Hinds;  but  the  British  destroyed  the  schooner  Caro- 
lina, causing  her  crew  to  abandon  her.     Another  en- 


250  The  Mississippi 

gagement  occurred  on  the  28th,  caused  by  an  advance 
of  the  British  in  two  columns;  Gibbs  on  the  right,  Keane 
on  the  left,  with  Pakenham,  in  personal  command,  in 
the  centre.  Keane  was  received  with  deadly  fire  and 
forced  to  fall  back.  Gibbs,  aided  by  the  dauntless 
Rennie  who  led  an  assault  in  person,  made  some  pro- 
gress but  was  ordered  back  by  the  commanding  gen- 
eral. On  the  31st,  the  British  attacked  again,  threw  up 
redoubts,  in  which  they  mounted  thirty  guns,  manned 
with  their  best  gunners.  This  battery  next  day  shelled 
Jackson's  headquarters,  at  the  chateau  of  M.  ^Macarte, 
a  wealthy  Creole,  rendering  it  untenable.  Jackson  re- 
turned the  fire  on  January  1st,  with  all  artillery  that 
could  be  trained  upon  the  redoubt.  The  British  fled 
and  abandoned  five  guns. 

On  January  2d,  both  armies  were  strongly  re- 
inforced. Brigadier-General  John  Thomas  came  with 
two  thousand  militia  from  Kentucky;  Major-General 
John  Lambert,  also  arrived  by  sea  with  Pakenham's  own 
regiment,  bringing  British  forces  up  to  ten  thousand 
veteran  soldiers.  The  British  troops  were  then  divided 
into  three  brigades,  under  Keane,  Gibbs,  and  Lambert. 
The  American  forces  were  in  only  two  divisions,  the 
right  under  General  Ross  and  the  left  under  Generals 
Carroll  and  Coffee.  Second  and  third  lines  of  defence 
were  thrown  up  by  Jackson.  General  Morgan  was 
posted  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  city  and  divining  that 
he  would  be  attacked  by  Thornton,  Jackson  sent  five 
hundred  Kentuckians  to  Morgan's  aid.  Thornton  as- 
saulted Morgan,  causing  his  men  to  spike  their  cannons 
and  retreat;  Patterson,  three  hundred  yards  in  Mor- 
gan's rear  was  next  attacked  and  his  troops  took  refuge 
on  board  the  Louisiana.     Thornton,  after  this  success- 


The  Mississippi  in  War  251 

ful  foray,  rejoined  the  main  army  confronting  Jackson. 

What  is  known  as  the  real  battle  of  New  Orleans 
began  on  the  following  morning.  The  Americans  fired 
the  first  gun.  Lieutenant  Spotts  opened  fire  on  the 
British;  but  General  Gibbs  advanced,  under  this  fire, 
against  the  Tennesseeans  and  Kentuckians,  who  fought 
in  a  line  four  deep,  protected  by  cotton  bales.  The 
accuracy  of  the  woodland  sharpshooters  under  General 
Carroll  cut  the  advancing  British  line  to  pieces. 
Pakenham,  in  person,  then  led  one  of  his  veteran  regi- 
ments to  the  support  of  Gibbs,  and  was  mortally 
wounded.  Keane  also  supported  the  assault  with  the 
famous  Ninety-third  Highlanders,  who  drove  a  wedge 
into  the  centre  of  Carroll's  defence.  Gibbs  was  fatally 
wounded.  Soon  after,  Keane  was  wounded  and  the 
command  devolved  upon  ]\lajor  Wilkinson,  who  met 
the  fate  of  his  commander-in-chief.  Of  the  nine  hundred 
Highlanders,  with  twenty-nine  officers,  only  two  hund- 
red and  thirty-five  men  and  nine  officers  were  mustered 
at  the  close  of  this  assault!  All  the  attacking  regiments 
on  this  part  of  the  field  suffered  terrible  losses. 

The  British  right  was  more  successful,  where  Colonel 
Rennie,  w^ith  one  thousand  men,  advanced  in  two 
columns,  one  by  the  road  and  the  other  along  the  levee 
at  the  river's  bank,  taking  a  redoubt  at  Jackson's  extreme 
right  but  only  holding  it  a  short  time,  for  although 
Rennie  succeeded  in  scaling  the  parapet  of  the  Ameri- 
can redoubt,  the  New  Orleans  Rifles,  under  Beale, 
opened  a  terrific  fire  upon  the  heroic  enemy,  in  which 
Rennie  was  killed.  At  this  juncture,  Lafitte,  who  had 
commanded  a  battery  which  was  no  longer  serviceable 
at  the  close  range,  called  to  his  lieutenants,  Bellouche, 
You,  and  Sebastiano,  to  follow  him.     Seizing  cutlasses. 


2  52  The  Mississippi 

the  pirate  patriots  swept  upon  the  survivors  of  the 
assault  like  Arab  fanatics,  and  although  a  few  of  the 
British  sprang  into  the  ditches,  Lafitte's  men  followed 
them  there  and  slew  them  mercilessly. 

That  night  Patterson  retook  his  line  and  at  dawn 
opened  fire  from  his  former  position.  His  were  the 
last  guns  fired.  The  battle  was  over,  and  the  British 
withdrew.  Their  losses  were  seven  hundred  killed, 
fourteen  hundred  wounded,  and  five  hundred  prisoners. 
The  American  casualties  were  eight  killed  and  thirteen 
wounded.  The  British  had  to  fight  in  the  open,  while 
the  Americans  were  behind  defences. 

The  British,  under  Lambert,  wholly  withdrew  from 
the  Mississippi  banks  on  January  19th,  and  two  days 
later  reached  their  fleet.  They  were  prevented  from 
further  attack  upon  other  unprotected  cities  by  receipt 
of  the  official  despatches  announcing  the  signing  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  on  December  24th. 

Ill THE    CIVIL    ^YAR 

The  western  frontier  of  the  British  colonial  pos- 
sessions in  North  America,  even  at  periods  of  most 
vain-glorious  assumption,  never  had  extended  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  With  a  stubbornness  and  an  activity 
that  did  not  characterise  the  Spaniards  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world,  the  race  of  Narvaez,  De  Soto,  Ponce 
de  Leon,  and  Coronado  claimed  and  held  against  French 
and  English  the  vast,  unmeasured  wilderness  beyond 
the  mighty  river  that  bisected  the  Xorth  American  Con- 
tinent. The  same  conditions  existed  when  the  thirteen 
States  freed  themselves  from  the  British  yoke  and  be- 
gan to  work    out   their   own   destiny.     No   man   had 


The  Mississippi  in  War  253 

arisen,  who,  Hke  Rameses  II.   of  Egypt,  "  fixed  his 
frontiers  where  he  pleased." 

Thomas  Jefferson,  as  we  have  seen,  accomphshed 
by  one  bold  stroke  the  apparently  impossible.  The 
necessities  of  Napoleon,  the  promptitude  of  Jefferson 
to  take  advantage  of  opportunity,  the  acquisition  of 
Florida,  the  bravery  of  the  Texans,  the  results  of  the 
I^Iexican  War,  and  the  Gadsden  Purchase  extended 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  of  America  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from  the  Forty-ninth 
parallel  to  the  Rio  Grande. 

When  the  Civil  War  tore  the  Republic  into  two  pieces, 
the  prescience  of  learned  tactitians  was  not  necessary  to 
comprehend  that  the  rebellion  ought  to  be  confined  to 
the  region  east  of  the  national  waterway.  The  prob- 
lem of  blockading  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports  of  the 
Confederacy  is  sufficient  to  excuse  the  Lincoln  Adminis- 
tration for  not  taking  prompt  possession  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi from  Saint  Louis  to  the  Gulf.  The  South  was 
in  a  condition  of  preparedness;  the  North  was  in  a 
state  little  better  than  panic.  The  slave  States  of  JNIis- 
souri,  Arkansas,  Texas,  and  three  quarters  of  Louisi- 
ana lay  west  of  the  Mississippi.  All  of  them  were 
prompt  to  put  troops  into  the  field  in  behalf  of  the 
Confederacy.  The  importance  of  segregating  them 
from  the  rest  of  their  southern  associates  was  too 
obvious  to  be  discussed. 

The  troubles  in  Missouri  delayed  the  seizure  of  im- 
portant strategic  points  on  the  river  below.  A  gov- 
ernor of  that  State  declared  for  the  Confederacy, 
organised  rebellion  to  the  national  Government,  and  as- 
sembled hostile  troops.  Saint  Louis  was  more  turbu- 
lently  rebellious  than  Baltimore.     :Months  of  valuable 


2  54  The  Mississippi 

time  were  lost  in  securing  conditions  of  semi-peaceful- 
ness  within  its  borders.  Although  the  battles  in  INIis- 
souri  distinctly  belong  to  the  reconquest  of  the 
Jylississippi,  they  need  not  be  gone  into.  The  redemp- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  does  not  begin  with  the  trifling 
and  inconsequential  fight  at  Belmont,  almost  under  the 
guns  of  Columbus,  then  held  by  the  Confederates,  but 
with  the  occupation  of  Cairo,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio 
River,  by  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant,  then  thirty-nine 
years  of  age.  He  possessed  a  West  Point  training  and 
had  seen  active  service  in  the  ^Mexican  War, — at  every 
battle  except  Buena  Vista.  Curiously,  in  that  cam- 
paign he  had  attracted  the  attention  of  General  Scott's 
staff  officer,  Robert  E.  Lee,  whom  he  was  afterwards 
to  confront  in  Virginia  and  defeat  in  the  final  campaign 
of  the  Civil  War. 

Had  Polk  seized  Cairo,  as  he  intended,  and  had 
other  Confederate  generals  fastened  hold  upon  Paducah 
and  Louisville,  the  probabilities  are  that  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  would  have  been  dragged  into  the  Con- 
federacy, however  unwilHngly.  Grant's  second  act  was 
to  occupy  Paducah,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  The  junction  of  the  Cumberland  with  the  Ohio 
was  less  than  ten  miles  distant.  This  coup  made  pos- 
sible the  subsequent  flotilla  advance  upon  Forts  Henry 
and  Donelson.  Grant's  immediate  objective  point  was 
Columbus,  situated  a  short  distance  below  Cairo,  on 
the  Kentucky  side  of  the  Mississippi,  where  General 
Polk  had  a  considerable  Confederate  force;  but  a  de- 
scent of  the  great  river  would  have  been  bad  military 
art,  as  long  as  formidable  bodies  of  the  enemy  occupied 
fortified  points  at  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  on  the 
Tennessee   and  Cumberland  rivers,   at  the  Tennessee 


The  Mississippi  in  War  255 

State  line.     The  extreme  right  of  the  Confederate  de- 
fence rested  upon  BowHng  Green,  Kentucky. 

Forts  Henry  and  Don  el  son 

The  movement  upon  the  centre  of  the  Confederate 
line  was  inaugurated  on  January  30,  1862.  Grant, 
with  a  force  of  seventeen  thousand  men  on  transports, 
escorted  by  four  armoured  and  three  unarmoured  gun- 
boats under  Commodore  Foote,  began  the  ascent  of 
the  Tennessee  River.  Here  started  a  campaign  that 
was  to  include  the  victories  at  Forts  Henry  and  Donel- 
son  and  the  two  days'  battle  at  Shiloh,  and  to  culminate 
in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg.  It  is  doubtful 
if  Grant  expected  this  flank  movement  on  the  ^lissis- 
sippi's  fortified  places  to  develop  into  a  year  and  a 
half  of  activity.  This  land  campaign,  by  which  the 
Confederate  positions  at  Columbus,  Fort  Pillow,  and 
^lemphis  were  turned  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi's conquest  as  are  the  battles  of  New  Madrid 
and  Island  No.  10. 

Taking  events  in  their  chronological  sequence,  the 
fall  of  Fort  Henry  was  inevitable,  owing  to  the  sud- 
denness of  the  attack  by  Grant  and  Foote.  Its  com- 
mandant, General  Tighman,  sent  all  of  his  thirty-four 
hundred  men,  except  ninety-six,  to  Fort  Donelson  and 
maintained  a  show  of  fight  until  their  retreat  across 
the  twelve-mile  neck  of  land  separating  the  two  rivers 
and  forts  had  been  accomplished.  Then  he  surrend- 
ered. The  importance  of  the  capture  was  that  a  new 
base  for  operating  against  Fort  Donelson  was  created. 
A  good  and  direct  road  connected  the  two  places. 
Meanwhile,  Foote's  armed  flotilla  had  to  descend  the 


256  The  Mississippi 

Tennessee  to  the  Ohio  and  to  ascend  the  Cumberland 
to  a  position  for  using  its  guns  upon  Donelson.  Fort 
Henry  was  occupied  on  February  6th. 

The  advance  of  the  troops  upon  Donelson  began  the 
morning  of  the  surrender  of  Henry.  This  fort  occupied 
a  fine  position  upon  a  plateau,  elevated  a  hundred  feet 
above  the  Cumberland,  and  consisted  of  "two  water- 
batteries  on  the  hillside,  protected  by  a  bastioned  earth- 
work of  irregular  outline  on  the  summit,  enclosing  one 
hundred  acres."  ^  Along  the  western  ridge  of  the 
plateau  was  a  line  of  fortifications  for  field  artillery 
and  some  rifle-pits.  About  the  time  Grant  had  de- 
ployed his  troops.  General  Floyd,  who  had  been 
Buchanan's  Secretary  of  War,  superseded  General 
Pillow  and  took  over  the  cormnand  of  the  eighteen 
thousand  Confederates. 

The  first  assault  was  ordered  by  Grant  on  the  13th. 
It  was  little  more  than  a  reconnaissance  in  force.  The 
fleet  and  transports  arrived  next  day  with  five  thousand 
fresh  troops.  Seven  mortar-boats  rendered  valuable 
service.  The  Confederate  water  battery  was  shelled  at 
a  nearness  of  six  hundred  yards,  although  the  gunboats 
finally  were  driven  away.  About  daylight  of  the  15th, 
Pillow,  with  eight  thousand  men,  attempted  a  sortie 
directed  against  ^IcClernand  who  held  the  road  to 
Charlotte,  and  opened  a  way  of  escape.  Had  Floyd 
acted  promptly,  he  might  have  got  away  with  his  en- 
tire force.  But,  Pillow  spent  the  precious  hours  in 
another  attack  upon  Lew  Waflace  until  Grant  had 
time  to  reach  the  field  and  take  personal  command. 
He  saw  that  a  fight  to  a  finish  tlien  and  there  was 
inevitable.     He  ordered  a  general  charge  upon  all  the 

1  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  pp.  11-28. 


The  Mississippi  in  War  257 

outlying  earthworks,  which  resulted  in  carrying  the 
ridge  and  extending  the  Federal  line  completely  around 
the  bastioned  fortress.  With  the  aid  of  the  mortar- 
boats,  escape  by  land  was  completely  cut  off,  and  the 
Confederates  had  lost  in  the  fight  about  two  thousand 
men.  During  the  darkness  of  that  night,  Floyd  and 
Pillow  escaped  up  the  Cumberland  in  a  boat.  The 
"  unconditional  surrender  "  by  Buckner  of  Fort  Donel- 
son  occurred  next  morning  (16th) ,  and  included  fifteen 
thousand  prisoners,  sixty-eight  cannons,  and  seventeen 
thousand  muskets.  This  Federal  victory  w^as  im- 
mediately followed  by  the  evacuation  of  Columbus  by 
Polk,  who  burned  his  buildings  and  w^ent  by  steamer 
to  New  ^ladrid. 

In  the  field,  Corinth,  Mississippi,  became  the  natural 
point  for  Confederate  concentration.  Grant  sent  his 
transports  to  the  Tennessee  and  began  to  move  troops 
and  provisions  up  that  river  to  the  nearest  location  for 
a  base  of  attack  upon  that  town.  Thus  was  Pittsburg 
Landing  chosen ;  and  Shiloh  church,  about  two  miles  back 
from  the  river,  became  the  scene  of  a  two  day's  battle  that 
has  provoked  more  controversy  than  any  other  event 
of  the  Civil  War. 

IMeanwhile,  Commodore  Foote's  squadron  had  been 
ordered  to  dislodge  the  Confederates  from  Island  No. 
10,  in  the  Mississippi,  almost  opposite  New  ^ladrid,  to 
which  place  General  Polk  had  sent  one  hundred  and 
forty  guns  from  Columbus  and  part  of  his  force. 

Brigadier-General  W.  T.  Sherman  occupied  Colum- 
bus on  March  4th.  Brigadier-General  John  Pope  was 
on  his  way  through  ^lissouri  and  arrived  before  New 
Madrid,  on  that  shore  of  the  ^lississippi,  March  3d.  A 
siege  of  a  month  followed.     Foote  was  banging  away 


258  The  Mississippi 

at  the  fortifications  on  Island  No.  10,  disabhng  gun 
after  gun ;  and  Pope  was  gradually  tightening  the  lines 
about  the  town  on  the  mainland.  Polk  surrendered  to 
Pope  on  April  7th,  about  seven  thousand  men. 

The  intention  of  the  Federals  was  to  move  down 
the  INlississippi  in  transports,  guarded  by  Foote's  gun- 
boats, to  Fort  Pillow,  a  defensive  position  created  by 
the  Confederates  upon  a  high  bluff  on  the  Tennessee 
side.  Plans  were  made  for  a  combined  attack  from  land 
and  river  on  the  17th;  but  orders  came  from  Halleck 
directing  Pope  to  reinforce  Grant  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing for  the  attack  on  Corinth.  Troops  were  hurried 
aboard  the  transports  which  steamed  up-stream,  en 
route  for  the  Tennessee  River.  Fort  Pillow  was  left 
to  its  own  destruction.     It  was  subsequently  abandoned. 

ShiloJi 

Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was  in  command  of  the 
rapidly  assembling  Confederate  forces  at  Corinth.  That 
a  great  battle  would  be  fought  in  that  vicinity  was  ob- 
vious, even  to  General  Halleck.  Troops  were  hurried 
thither  from  many  parts  of  the  Gulf  States.  The  flight 
of  Floyd  and  Pillow  had  disgraced  them  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Confederate  Government  and  they  were  removed 
from  all  command.  Johnston's  chief  aid  was  Beau- 
regard, who  had  ordered  Fort  Sumter  fired  upon,  thus 
precipitating  the  war,  and  had  covered  himself  with 
Southern  laurels  at  Bull  Run.  Braxton  Bragg  was 
brought  from  Pensacola,  with  eleven  thousand  men. 

The  choice  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  as  a  base  of  Fed- 
eral operations  upon  Corinth,  was  made  by  Gen.  W. 
F.    Smith.     Endless    discussion   has   arisen    regarding 


The  Mississippi  in  War  259 

the  wisdom  of  selecting  a  site  upon  the  west  bank  of  the 
Tennessee,  by  that  act,  putting  the  river  behind  the 
Federal  troops  instead  of  in  front  of  them.  The  Count 
de  Paris  did  not  settle  the  dispute  when  he  declared  in  his 
History  of  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  that  "  the 
position  was  extremely  well  chosen."  It  was  a  fight- 
ing man's  selection,  made  for  another  fighting  man! 
Smith  and  Grant  were  of  the  same  metal.  It  is  fair 
to  state  that  Beauregard  had  seen  the  strategic  import- 
ance of  the  bluff  at  Pittsburg  Landing  and  had  occupied 
it  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  gunboats;  but  these  had 
shelled  his  small  garrison  and  driven  it  away  before 
Smith's  arrival. 

As  long  as  the  boats  held  the  river,  the  position  was 
a  strong  one, — a  quadrilateral  enclosed  on  three  sides, 
by  a  river  and  two  deep  creeks,  with  an  opening  to  the 
south-west  toward  Corinth.  This  latter  feature  was 
fully  recognised  as  the  weakness  of  the  position,  and  the 
contention  of  critics  always  will  be  that  a  triple  or 
quadruple  line  of  Federal  videttes  should  have  been 
posted  along  the  Corinth  highway.  From  left  to  right, 
facing  this  obvious  point  of  assault,  if  one  were  to  be 
made,  lay  the  commands  of  Stuart,  Prentiss,  Sherman, 
and  ^NlcClernand.  Inside  this  line  were  Hurlbut,  and 
William  Wallace,  who  had  taken  over  W.  F.  Smith's 
command.  Lew  Wallace  was  on  the  Purdy  road,  near 
Crump's  Landing,  five  miles  to  the  northward.  Buell's 
army  was  anxiously  expected,  because  his  advance  guard 
under  Nelson,  had  reached  Savannah,  a  landing  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  eight  miles  from  Pittsburg. 

With  an  impetuosity^  that  carried  everything  before 
it,  Johnston  attacked  in  great  force  at  5.30  on  the  raw 
Sunday  morning  of  April  6th.     The  Confederate  troops 


26o  The  Mississippi 

had  deployed  during  the  night  within  less  than  half  a 
mile  of  the  Federal  lines.  The  hlow  brought  conster- 
nation to  the  troops  of  Prentiss,  upon  whom  it  fell.  If 
it  came  not  as  a  surprise,  it  was  followed  by  a  panic. 
INIany  prisoners  were  taken  in  their  beds.  Grant  had 
his  headquarters  at  Savannah  and  ^NlcClernand  was  the 
only  Major-General  on  the  firing  line,  which  did  not 
possess  a  single  rifle-pit  or  other  defence. 

Johnston's  attack  was  made  in  three  parallel  lines 
of  ten  thousand  men  each,  separated  by  half  a  mile. 
Hardee  led,  followed  by  Bragg,  and  in  the  last  line, 
intended  to  cover  and  extend  the  flanks,  were  Polk  with 
ten  thousand  on  the  extreme  left  and  Breckinridge  with 
six  thousand  on  the  right.  In  addition  to  the  thirty-six 
thousand  infantry,  some  excellent  Confederate  cavalry, 
that  could  have  been  used  in  the  open,  were  valueless  in 
the  underbrush  of  the  forests.  Of  the  forty  thousand 
Federal  troops.  Lew  Wallace's  seven  thousand  men  did 
not  arrive  in  time  to  participate  in  the  first  day's  fight. 

Grant  reached  the  battle-field  at  eight  o'clock  and 
sent  an  order  to  Lew  Wallace  to  advance  at  once. 
Owing  to  a  blunder  in  the  transmission  of  the  verbal 
message  or  to  ignorance  of  the  roads.  Wallace's  com- 
mand did  not  make  those  five  sloughy  miles  until  seven 
o'clock  at  night,  at  which  time  the  Federal  line  had 
been  driven  back  fully  one  mile,  contesting  every  foot. 
Prior  to  Sunday  noon,  great  disorganisation  reigned  in 
several  parts  of  the  Federal  line.  The  loss  of  human 
life  was  terrible.  About  2.30  in  the  afternoon,  General 
Johnston  sitting  on  his  horse  in  the  open  was  hit  by  a 
rifle  ball  that  severed  an  artery  in  his  leg.  It  was  not 
a  fatal  wound,  but  Johnston  paid  no  attention  to  his 
injury  until  he  suddenly  collapsed  and  died  from  loss  of 


The  Mississippi  in  War  261 

blood.  President  Davis  asserted,  years  afterward,  that 
"  the  southern  cause  perished  then  and  there,  on  the 
field  of  Shiloh."  General  Beauregard  succeeded  to  the 
command. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  twenty-two  hundred 
of  Prentiss's  men  were  surrounded  and  captured  by  tlie 
Confederates,  and  William  Wallace,  who  was  command- 
ing Smith's  brigade,  was  mortally  wounded.  Before 
dark,  the  gunboats  took  part  in  the  battle  and  probably 
checked  the  advance  to  Pittsburg  Landing.  Nelson 
was  the  Bliicher  of  the  day.  He  arrived  in  time  to 
cross  the  river  and  to  defend  the  landing  of  ^IcCook 
and  the  rest  of  Buell's  army. 

The  splendid  bravery  of  the  Confederates  had  not 
given  to  them  decisive  victory.  Bragg  advocated  a  final 
charge  after  nightfall,  but  Beauregard  ordered  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostihties.  "  The  battle  is  lost  in  that  event!  " 
exclaimed  Bragg,  protestant.  Beauregard's  defence  of 
his  action  is  to  be  found  in  Battles  and  Leaders  (i.,  590) . 
He  knew  that  fresh  troops  were  crossing  the  river  and 
believed  a  repulse  of  the  charge  suggested  by  Bragg  to 
be  inevitable. 

In  the  Federal  ranks,  Prentiss  was  the  chief  hero  of 
that  terrible  Sunday,  because  his  command  stood  the 
brunt  of  the  attack.  About  dark,  Lew  Wallace  and 
Nelson  each  added  seven  thousand  men  to  the  Federal 
forces  almost  simultaneously.  Crittenden  arrived 
during  the  night. 

Monday  morning  saw  the  Federal  line,  stretching 
from  a  bayou  of  the  river  (reading  from  left  to  right), 
held  by  Majors-General  Nelson,  Crittenden,  ^IcCook, 
INIcClernand,  and  Lew  Wallace.  Confronting  them 
were  the  four  divisions,  right  to  left,  of  Hardee,  Breck- 


262  The  Mississippi 

inridge,  Polk,  and  Bragg.  Grant  assumed  the  aggres- 
sive at  dayhght.  Nelson's  fresh  troops  were  thrown 
against  Hardee's ;  Lew  Wallace,  anxious  to  retrieve  the 
misfortunes  of  the  previous  day  that  had  kept  him  out 
of  the  fight,  made  a  savage  attempt  to  get  possession 
of  the  Corinth  road  in  the  rear  of  the  Confederates. 
JNIcCook  did  some  brilliant  work  at  the  centre.  Al- 
though Lew  Wallace  did  not  wholly  succeed  in  his 
efforts,  he  compelled  the  beginning  of  a  retreat  by 
Beauregard  that  only  ended  when  the  defences  of 
Corinth  had  been  reached.  During  INIondaj''  afternoon, 
Generals  Wood  and  Thomas,  with  twelve  thousand 
fresh  troops  arrived,  and  Grant  has  been  criticised  be- 
cause he  did  not  follow  and  harass  his  retreating  foe. 

The  battles  of  luka  and  Corinth  were  supplements 
of  Shiloh.  The  Confederacy  had  shot  its  bolt  in  that 
battle,  and,  although  the  result  was  indecisive,  the 
Southern  arms  had  suffered  losses  that  could  not  be 
repaired.     Corinth  fell  by  force  of  circumstances. 

New  Orleans 

Upon  the  insistence  of  President  Lincoln,  as  early  as 
Januar}^  of  that  year  (1862),  the  assembling  of  a  fleet 
of  naval  vessels  and  transports,  for  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans  and  the  opening  of  the  lower  parf  of  the  JNIis- 
sissippi  River,  had  been  actively  begun.  Wooden 
frigates  and  gunboats  selected  carried  one  hundred  and 
fifty  guns  of  various  calibres.  A  lot  of  extemporised 
mortar-boats  were  added.  The  expedition  was  sup- 
plemented by  a  land  force  of  about  thirteen  thousand 
troops,  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  given  command 
of  them.     The  fleet  commander  was  David  Glasgow 


The  Mississippi  in  War  263 

Farragut,  who,  although  a  Tennesseean  by  birth,  never 
had  faltered  in  his  fidehty  to  the  Union. 

There  was  not  an  armoured  vessel  in  Farragut's 
fleet  when  it  assembled  in  April  off  the  mouth  of  the 
ISIississippi.  The  debt  of  naval  architecture  to  the  de- 
signers of  the  Merrimac  and  the  Monitor  had  already 
been  recognised  in  the  historic  encounter  at  Hampton 
Roads,  and  the  utter  worthlessness  of  wooden  ships 
against  armoured  ones  was  admitted.  Farragut's  flag- 
ship was  the  old  Hartford,  twenty-five  guns;  and  with 
her  were  the  Brooldyn,  Richmond,  and  Pensacola,  even 
inferior  to  her  as  fighting  machines.  Commander  Porter, 
son  of  a  famous  United  States  naval  officer,  and  who  was 
afterwards  to  become  an  admiral  of  the  Navy,  com- 
manded an  auxiliary  flotilla  of  nineteen  mortar-boats,' 
each  having  a  thirteen-inch  mortar  for  throwing  spheri- 
cal shells.  Its  work  in  the  subsequent  battles  at  New 
Orleans  and  Vicksburg  proved  to  be  of  the  highest 
importance. 

The  distance  by  the  Mississippi  from  the  Gulf  to 
New  Orleans  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  and  two 
antiquated  forts,  located  at  Plaquemine  Bend,  about 
ninety  miles  south  of  the  city,  had  been  strengthened 
to  such  a  degree  that  the  Confederates  felt  sanguine  of 
their  effectiveness.  Fort  St.  Philip  stood  upon  the  right 
bank  and  twenty-four  hundred  feet  farther  down- 
stream, upon  the  left  bank,  was  Fort  Jackson.  The 
former  was  an  open  work  and  mounted  fifty-three  guns, 
but  the  latter  was  a  casemated  structure,  with  a  ditch, 
and  possessed  seventy-five  guns,  some  of  heavy  calibre. 
'Hiese  strongholds  had  been  well  provisioned,  were  se- 
cure from  land  attack  because  of  their  positions  upon 
the   narrow   strip    of    soil   that   served   as    a  dyke    to 


264  The  Mississippi 

separate  the  river  from  the  Gulf,  and  each  was  garri- 
soned by  seven  hundred  men.  A  few  water  batteries  had 
been  begun  between  Plaquemine  and  New  Orleans,  but 
they  had  not  been  brought  to  any  condition  of  arma- 
ment, because  the  defence  afforded  by  the  two  forts  was 
considered  ample.  A  line  of  schooners  had  been  an- 
chored across  the  river,  held  together  by  the  heaviest 
anchor  chains.  Ten  small  armoured  vessels  were  kept 
above  Fort  St.  Philip;  but  the  chief  menace  afloat — in 
the  light  of  the  devastation  wrought  by  the  Merrimac 
upon  wooden  ships  in  Hampton  Roads  prior  to  the 
arrival  of  the  Monitor — was  an  iron-armoured  ram,  the 
31anassas,  and  the  Louisiana^  a  small  corvette,  the  bul- 
warks of  which  had  been  cut  down  and  a  sloping  deck, 
similar  in  form  to  that  of  the  Merrimac,  added.  This 
iron-covered  superstructure  and  gun-deck  carried  six- 
teen cannons  of  large  calibre  for  that  period.  The 
naval  part  of  the  Confederate  equipment  was  under 
Commander  John  Mitchell;  but  several  of  the  smaller 
vessels,  furnished  by  the  city  authorities,  had  been  given 
into  the  charge  of  a  river  captain,  and  conflict  of  authority 
was  inevitable.  General  Duncan  was  in  chief  command 
of  the  Confederate  land  forces,  with  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Higgins  at  Fort  Jackson.  In  the  city  of 
New  Orleans  were  as  few  as  three  thousand  troops,  all 
others  having  been  dra^Mi  to  support  Johnston  in  his 
attack  upon  Pittsburg  Landing. 

Farragut  was  in  readiness  on  April  16th,  and  began 
to  get  his  ships  across  the  bar.  It  was  before  the  days 
of  the  Eads  Jetties,  and  great  trouble  was  experienced 
with  shallow  water  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Porter's 
light-draft  vessels  were  hurried  up-stream  and  anchored 
close  to  Fort  Jackson,  behind  the  narrow  neck  of  land 


The  Mississippi  in  War  265 

formed  by  a  sharp  bend  in  the  river, — which  in  front 
of  the  forts  flowed  almost  west.  The  mortar-boats  were 
sheltered  from  view  by  a  dense  forest,  but  as  an  addi- 
tional means  of  confusing  the  men  on  watch  at  Fort 
Jackson,  the  tops  of  the  masts  were  trimmed  with 
boughs  from  the  adjacent  trees.  The  appearance  of 
the  snug  little  flotilla  recalled  the  advance  of  the  woods 
of  Dunsinane. 

Porter  began  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Jackson  on 
the  18th  and  during  its  continuance  for  five  days  and 
nights  threw  about  seventeen  thousand  shells,  exceeding 
one  per  minute.  So  accurate  were  the  calculations  of 
the  gunners  that  Fort  Jackson  became  a  mass  of  ruins. 
Attempts  to  shell  Fort  St.  Phihp,  half  a  mile  farther 
up-stream,  were  not  successful;  but  its  guns  were  not 
so  formidable  as  those  at  Fort  Jackson  had  been. 

At  the  end  of  five  days,  Farragut's  patience  was 
exhausted.  Porter's  argument  was  that  it  would  be  un- 
wise to  run  past  the  forts,  even  if  it  could  be  success- 
fully achieved,  leaving  formidable  places  of  defence  in 
the  rear.  In  other  words,  he  feared  that  the  fleet  might 
be  "  bottled  up  "  at  New  Orleans.  While  the  bombard- 
ment had  been  in  progress,  Lieutenant  Caldwell  had 
been  directed  to  take  the  two  little  steamers  Pinola  and 
Itasca — how  interesting  that  the  name  of  the  then  ac- 
credited source  of  the  ^lississippi  should  have  been  thus 
attached  to  the  battle  at  the  mouth  of  the  river! — and 
break  through  the  line  of  chained  vessels  that  blocked 
a  passage-way  up-stream.  lie  successfully  accom- 
plished the  hazardous  undertaking  on  the  night  of  April 
20th.  After  failing  to  explode  a  mine  under  the  cen- 
tral vessel  of  the  row,  he  worked  round  an  end  of  the 
line,  in  shallow  water,  ran  up-stream  a  short  distance, 


266  The  Mississippi 

turned,  and  at  full  headway  came  down  upon  the  chain, 
breaking  it,  causing  the  vessels  to  drag  their  anchors 
and  to  swing  to  right  and  to  left,  leaving  the  centre 
of  the  river  open.  It  was  glorious  service  that  the  little 
Itasca  rendered  that  dark  night. 

Four  nights  later,  at  two  o'clock,  Farragut's  squad- 
ron got  under  way.  Every  conceivable  means  had  been 
adopted  to  protect  the  magazines  and  boilers  and  all 
light  rigging  had  been  taken  down.  The  credit  of 
leadership  was  given  to  Captain  Bailey  of  the  Cayuga. 
After  him  came  the  sloops  Pensacola  and  Mississippi, 
the  corvettes  Oneida  and  Variina,  and  the  gunboats 
Katahdin,  Kineo,  and  Wissahickon.  What  was  left  of 
the  batteries  in  the  two  forts  did  everything  possible 
to  destroy  the  ships.  At  this  point,  the  gunboats,  five 
in  number,  closed  in,  going  within  two  hundred  j^ards 
of  the  shore,  and  threw  sufficient  grape  and  canister  to 
drive  the  men  from  the  guns  of  Fort  Jackson.  The 
armoured  ram,  Manassas,  failing  to  injure  the  Pensa- 
cola, attacked  the  Mississippi.  Owing  to  the  attention 
given  to  the  other  ships,  Bailey  got  tbe  Cayuga  past 
the  forts  without  serious  injury  and  became  hotly  en- 
gaged with  the  ships  above.  The  Varuna  set  four  of 
the  enemy's  ships  afire,  but  in  the  contest  was  so  seri- 
ously injured  that  she  had  to  be  run  ashore  to  save 
the  crew,  which  was  rescued  by  the  Oneida.  The 
Cayuga  destroyed  three  of  the  enemy's  boats;  but  one 
got  away  to  New  Orleans. 

About  that  time  the  Hartford,  with  Farragut 
aboard,  and  the  Brooklyn  had  arrived  opposite  Fort 
St.  Philip  when  the  most  serious  complication  of  the 
night  occurred.  A  fire-raft  was  observed  coming  down- 
stream, pushed  by  a  plucky  tugboatman.     The  channel 


^       ^     C3 


'A 


The  Mississippi  in  War  267 

was  not  broad  at  that  point,  and  as  the  raft  held  to 
its  centre,  despite  a  storm  of  grape-shot  j^oured  into 
the  tugboat  behind  it,  the  Hartford  tried  to  avoid  the 
blazing  danger  and  went  upon  a  bar.  The  raft  was 
jammed  against  the  side  of  the  flag-ship  and  the  flames 
leaped  into  the  rigging.  Farragut's  supreme  coolness 
at  that  time  enabled  the  crew  to  extinguish  the  burn- 
ing mass,  after  which  the  Hartford  backed  into  the 
channel  and,  with  thirty  odd  holes  in  her  hull,  proceeded. 
While  this  crisis  was  occurring,  the  Brooklyn  was 
rammed  by  the  Manassas,  far  under  the  water-line,  but 
the  hole  was  plugged  and  the  dangerous  ram  driven 
off.  Three  of  the  Federal  gunboats  met  with  mis- 
fortune, among  them  the  Itasca,  that  had  so  gloriously 
distinguished  herself  by  breaking  the  line  of  obstruc- 
tions on  the  night  of  the  20th.  The  Manassas  followed 
the  squadron  almost  to  New  Orleans,  where,  again  at- 
tacked by  the  Mississippi  that  she  had  rammed  early 
in  the  fight,  she  ran  ashore,  was  set  afire  by  shells  from 
the  attacking  boat,  and  finally  blew  up. 

The  actual  engagement  with  the  two  forts  lasted 
less  than  one  hour  and  a  half. 

A  battery  was  encountered  on  the  eastern  shore, 
not  far  from  the  historic  battle-field  on  the  Plain  of 
Chalmette,  where  "  Old  Hickory,"  with  his  Tennessee 
squirrel  and  Indian  hunters  had  defeated  the  British 
veterans  of  the  Napoleonic  campaigns. 

When  the  Federal  squadron  anchored  off  the  Cres- 
cent City,  the  people  of  the  town  were  not  complaisant. 
The  Caijuga  went  to  a  wharf -head  and  Captain  Bailey, 
accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Perkins,  walking  alone  to 
the  City  Hall,  demanded  from  the  mayor  the  surrender 
of    the    city.      The    mayor    temporised    and,    as    the 


268  The  Mississippi 

demand  could  not  be  enforced  until  General  Butler 
arrived  with  troops,  the  Confederate  flag  continued  to 
float  over  the  municipal  building.  Of  course,  Farragut 
could  have  shelled  the  city,  but  he  never  contemplated 
such  an  act  of  barbarism.  Porter,  who  had  remained 
near  the  forts,  compelled  their  surrender  on  April  27th. 
The  ascent  of  the  transports  followed,  but  before  Butler 
arrived  on  the  29th,  a  small  body  of  marines  had  landed 
and  replaced  the  Confederate  flag  over  the  City  Hall 
with  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  No  sooner  had  the  marines 
departed  than  a  man  named  ^lumford  tore  down  the 
Federal  flag,  carried  it  to  the  street,  where  the  populace 
trampled  it  in  the  mud  and  afterwards  tore  it  into  frag- 
ments. One  of  General  Butler's  first  acts  was  to  order 
the  trial  by  court-martial  of  3Iumford  for  "  insult  to 
the  Federal  flag."  He  was  condemned  to  be  hanged 
and  was  summarily  executed.  The  Count  de  Paris  did 
not  think  Mumford  ought  to  have  been  hanged,  but 
the  people  of  New  Orleans  never  shed  a  tear  for  him. 
He  was  a  worthless  fellow,  like  the  chap,  who,  earlier 
in  the  war,  had  killed  Ellsworth  at  Alexandria. 

Several  historians  agree  that  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans  prevented  a  recognition  of  the  Confederacy's 
independence  by  the  Emperor  of  France,  NajDoleon  HI. 
That  any  negotiations  were  pending  between  foreign 
emissaries  of  the  Confederate  Government,  looking  to  a 
surrender  of  a  portion  of  Southern  territory  as  a 
military  base  from  which  France  could  with  greater 
assurance  of  success  invade  ]Mexico,  is  highly  improb- 
able. JNIuch  as  Mr.  Davis  and  his  Cabinet  would  have 
welcomed  Napoleon  IIL's  recognition  of  independence, 
any  attempt  to  grant  a  foothold  for  French  arms  upon 
the  Rio  Grande  would  have  met  with  stubborn  opposi- 


The  Mississippi  in  War  269 

tion  from  the  most  devoted  adherents  of  "  the  sacred 
cause,"  and  the  Texans  would  have  resented  it  to  a  man. 
Vicksburg  became  the  objective  point.  It  alone 
impeded  the  free  passage  of  Federal  traffic  the  entire 
length  of  the  navigable  river. 

Vicksburg 

The  Vicksburg  campaign  naturally  divided  itself 
into  two  distinct  enterprises,  the  first  wholly  military 
and  the  second  naval-military.  An  unsuccessful  at- 
tempt by  Grant  and  Sherman  in  1862  to  capture  it 
becomes  purely  episodical  considered  in  relation  to  the 
subsequent  siege,  which  covers  a  period  of  twelve 
months.  Farragut  was  restrained  from  proceeding  to 
Vicksburg  by  the  Washington  government.  At  any 
time  during  that  previous  month  of  ]May,  a  few  thou- 
sand men,  accompanied  by  the  gunboats  of  Farragut's 
squadron,  could  have  seized  Vicksburg  and  held  it. 
The  adjacent  Federal  army  then  could  have  been 
provisioned  by  river  from  North  and  South. 

The  Vicksburg  problem,  by  the  time  it  was  put  up 
to  Grant,  was  one  of  grave  seriousness  and  complexity. 
For  this  delaj^  which  probably  added  half  a  year  to  the 
life  of  the  rebellion.  General  Halleck  always  has  been 
blamed.  It  was  a  misfortune  to  South  and  North 
alike.  Farragut,  with  the  same  impetuosity  he  had 
shown  at  the  forts,  had  attacked  the  batteries  at  Vicks- 
burg on  June  28,  1862,  and  passed  them  only  to  find 
the  city  impregnable  to  attack  from  the  river.  He 
once  more  ran  the  batteries  on  July  15th,  returning  to 
New  Orleans. 

General  Grant  urgently  suggested  the  investment 


270  The  Mississippi 

of  Vicksburg  and  the  destruction  of  the  boats  and  traffic 
on  the  Yazoo  River,  but  Halleck  took  no  notice  of  the 
letter  and  Grant,  after  being  kept  idle  at  Corinth  for 
months,  of  his  own  volition  moved  to  Grand  Junction 
and  La  Grange.  The  latter  place  is  sixty  miles  east 
of  Memphis,  which  had  been  occupied  during  the 
summer  by  Sherman,  after  the  abandonment  of  Forts 
Pillow  and  Randolph.  Grant  then  asked  permission 
to  move  down  the  ^Mississippi  Central  Railroad  to  Holly 
Springs  and  Halleck  consented. 

About  this  time,  Grant's  troubles  with  McClernand, 
who  had  been  his  subordinate,  began.  The  latter  se- 
cured a  leave  of  absence,  went  to  Washington,  and  per- 
suaded President  Lincoln  to  organise  an  expedition  to 
proceed  against  Vicksburg  and  to  open  the  ^Mississippi 
to  New  Orleans.  General  Grant,  on  December  8th, 
sent  Sherman  to  IMemphis,  with  one  division,  where 
he  was  to  mobilise  all  the  troops  he  could  gather;  then 
proceed  down  the  river  and,  assisted  by  Porter's  gun- 
boats, to  reduce  Vicksburg.  Although  IMcClernand 
had  been  directed  to  command  such  an  expedition,  a 
message  wired  to  Sherman  to  that  effect  never  reached 
him.  Forrest  had  cut  the  telegraph  lines.  Sherman's 
expedition  was  then  ready  to  start,  and,  in  ignorance 
of  McClernand's  assignment,  its  commander  was  at 
Vicksburg  before  McClemand  had  crossed  the  Ohio 
River. 

Sherman  had  asked  the  chief  quartermaster  at  Saint 
Louis  to  furnish  transports  for  thirty  thousand  men 
at  Memphis  at  the  earliest  date.  Sixty-seven  steamboats 
arrived  at  Memphis  December  19th,  and  embarkation 
began.  Porter's  gunboats  were  already  at  anchor  off  that 
city.     Leaving  Memphis  on  the  20th,  a  stop  was  made 


The  Mississippi  in  War  271 

at  Helena  next  day  to  take  aboard  Steele's  division,  and 
the  boats  ran  their  bows  against  the  bank  at  Millikens 
Bend,  twenty  miles  up-stream  from  Vicksburg,  before 
dawn  of  the  25th.  There,  A.  J.  Smith's  division  was 
landed  to  cut  the  railroad  to  Shreveport,  which  had 
brought  large  quantities  of  supplies  to  the  beleaguered 
city.  The  three  other  divisions  went  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Yazoo,  and  ascending  that  stream  fourteen  miles, 
disembarked.  Smith's  division  was  reunited  with  the 
main  force  next  day,  having  destroyed  the  railroad  to 
the  west.  Sherman  hoped  to  take  Vicksburg  with  his 
thirty  thousand  men,  but,  if  that  was  impossible,  he 
intended  to  cut  the  railroad  to  Jackson  and,  with  the 
co-operation  of  Grant's  arniy,  to  isolate  the  town. 
The  hope  of  a  surprise  failed  utterly;  raids  by  For- 
rest and  Van  Dorn  destroyed  the  other  part  of  the 
plan. 

General  Forrest  was  raiding  the  region  between 
the  Tennessee  and  ^lississippi  rivers  and  eluding 
Grant's  efforts  to  capture  him.  He  fought  about  a 
dozen  skirmishes  and  battles  but  succeeded  in  return- 
ing east  of  the  Tennessee,  after  he  had  broken  up 
Grant's  railroad  communication  with  Columbus,  his 
base  of  supplies.  INIeanwhile,  Van  Dorn,  another  Con- 
federate cavalry  general,  successfully  surprised  Holly 
Springs  and  took  fifteen  hundred  prisoners.  He 
burned  Grant's  supplies  at  that  place,  valued  at 
$1,500,000.  The  efforts  of  these  two  raiders  compelled 
Grant  to  retire  to  Grand  Junction,  Corinth,  and 
Memphis. 

The  Confederates  began  to  pour  troops  into  Vicks- 
burg. Pemberton  went  thither  from  the  field.  Sher- 
man soon  faced  twelve  thousand  men,  intrenched.     The 


272  The  Mississippi 

bluff  on  which  the  city  stands  has  a  height  of  two  hund- 
red feet,  which  enabled  the  Confederates  to  maintain 
close  observation  of  every  movement  of  Sherman's 
troops  in  the  Yazoo  Valley.  On  December  29th, 
Sherman  made  an  assault  upon  an  intrenched  Con- 
federate position  at  the  top  of  a  slope.  The  attack 
was  unsuccessful.  The  loss  of  life  was  severe,  namely, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-one  killed,  ninety-eight 
wounded,  and  seven  hundred  and  fifty-six  missing. 
The  Confederate  losses  were  inconsiderable.  It 
was  a  Federal  defeat  and  resulted  in  orders  from 
Washington  despatching  Grant  to  the  scene.  The 
year  1862  closed  dismally  for  the  Federal  cam- 
paign. 

General  Grant  reached  ^lemphis  on  January  10, 
1863,  and  prepared  to  go  to  the  aid  of  Sherman  at 
Vicksburg.  The  project  of  a  movement  by  river  and 
land  was  abandoned.  An  opinion  of  General  Francis 
V.  Greene,  who  has  written  a  book  on  this  subject,  is 
that  the  original  plan  for  an  advance  upon  Vicksburg, 
down  the  ^lississippi  from  JNIemphis  is  worthy  of  de- 
fence and  discussion.  "  The  risks  of  such  a  movement 
were  far  less  than  those  of  the  final  campaign  from 
Bruinsburg,  through  Jackson  to  Haines's  Bluff,"  says 
General  Greene.  He  also  points  out  that  "  a  direct 
movement  from  INIemphis  against  the  rear  of  Vicksburg 
was  the  one  suggested  by  Grant  in  his  letter  to  Halleck, 
of  October  26th."  There  was  not  any  co-operation  from 
"New  Orleans  as  had  been  expected.  General  N.  P. 
Banks  had  reached  that  city  to  supersede  Butler  on 
December  14th;  and  he  sent  a  large  force,  without  dis- 
embarking, to  occupy  Baton  Rouge,  which  was  done 
without  resistance.     An  attack  was  not  made  on  Port 


The  Mississippi  in  War  273 

Hudson  until  three  months  had  passed.  Its  siege  hy 
Banks  was  dependent  upon  the  success  of  General 
Grant  at  Vicksburg.  On  March  14,  1863,  Farragut, 
(promoted  to  be  rear-admiral  on  July  16,  1862),  at- 
tempted to  run  the  batteries  at  Port  Hudson  -with  a 
fleet  of  vessels  but  succeeded  only  in  passing  with  his 
flag-ship,  the  Hartford,  and  a  gunboat,  which  was  lashed 
to  her  side. 

When  McClernand  relieved  Sherman,  after  the  fail- 
ure of  the  assault  on  Chickasaw  Bluffs, — the  super- 
sedence having  been  decreed  weeks  before  and  not 
coming  as  a  rebuke  for  defeat, — Shemian  organised  an 
expedition  against  Ai'kansas  Post,  up  the  Arkansas 
River.  The  engagement  he  fought  there,  on  January 
11th,  was  entirely  successful.  A  Confederate  fort  that 
had  interfered  with  traffic  on  that  river  was  captured, 
several  thousand  prisoners  taken,  and  sixty-six  guns, 
and  the  place  destroyed.  It  was  a  small  affair,  but 
Sherman  was  rehabilitated. 

But  the  first  movement  against  Vicksburg  had  been 
a  disappointment  and  Grant  began  all  over  again. 

After  the  harassing  raids  of  Forrest  and  Van  Dorn 
had  been  in  part  repaired,  Grant  began  the  investment 
of  Vicksburg.  Five  distinct  battles  and  continuous 
skirmishes  occurred  east  of  Vicksburg,  all  successful 
to  the  Federal  cause.  Porter  ran  the  batteries  on  the 
night  of  April  16th,  with  the  Benton,  Lafayette,  Louis- 
ville, Mound  City,  Pittsburg,  and  Carondelet;  followed 
b}^  three  transports,  convoyed  by  the  gunboat,  Tus- 
cumbia.  In  the  passage  up-stream,  these  vessels  were 
under  fire  for  two  hours  but  only  one  vessel  was  lost, 
the  transport,  Henry  Clay.  All  the  men  aboard  it 
were  taken  off  bv  another  steamer. 


274  The  Mississippi 

After  preliminary  fighting  on  the  Big  Black  River 
on  May  17,  1863,  made  memorable  by  Lawler's  charge 
in  his  sliirt-sleeves,  Grant  ordered  an  assault  on  Vicks- 
burg  on  May  22d.  It  was  unsuccessful.  He  then 
decided  upon  a  siege. 

The  JNIississippi  was  in  Federal  hands  from  Port 
Hudson  to  Vicksburg.  This  city  was  admirably  de- 
fensible. Eight  roads  led  into  it  from  the  East.  The 
Confederate  line  was  irregular,  because  it  followed  the 
crest  of  a  ridge  from  the  Yazoo  River  at  the  north, 
first  eastward,  then  southward  to  the  Jackson  road 
(three  miles  behind  the  city),  thence  south-westerly  to 
the  ^lississippi  bank.  Deep  ravines  lay  in  front. 
Grant's  line  of  investment  extended  from  Haines's  Bluff 
(on  the  Yazoo)  at  the  north,  fifteen  miles  to  Bruins- 
burg  and  thence  to  the  ^lississippi.  Operating  on 
lower  ground,  Grant's  problem  was  more  difficult  than 
that  of  the  Confederates.  While  intrenching,  the  ef- 
ficiency of  Grant's  sharpshooters  kept  the  engineers  and 
workmen  from  serious  interference.  In  few  places  were 
his  lines  of  rifle-pits  more  than  six  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant from  the  enemy.  Many  negroes,  paid  by  the  day, 
helped  on  the  fortifications. 

The  first  important  engagement  in  the  Civil  War 
in  which  coloured  troops  took  part  was  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Mississippi,  during  this  siege,  at  JNlillikens  Bend, 
(June  7,  18G3),  where  they  showed  excellent  fight- 
ing qualities.  An  attack  by  the  Confederates  was 
repulsed. 

Grant's  forces  at  Vicksburg  had  been  so  strongly 
reinforced  that  on  June  1-ith,  he  had  seventy-one  thou- 
sand men.  He  relieved  INIcClernand  of  the  command 
of  the  Thirteenth  Army  Corps  on  the  19th  and  sent 


The  Mississippi  in  War  275 

him  hack  to  Ilhnois.  The  cause  was  a  flamhoyant 
order  by  McClernand,  praising  his  own  men  to  the 
prejudice  of  other  troops. 

Grant  had  two  hundred  and  twenty  guns  mounted 
by  June  30th,  but  the  grave  menace  of  Johnston's  army 
in  the  rear  still  existed.  Intercepted  messages  from  the 
latter  to  Pemberton  indicated  that  he  was  about  to 
move  westward  to  raise  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  This 
necessitated  two  lines  for  Grant, — an  emergency  for 
which  he  had  carefully  prepared, — one  facing  Johnston 
and  the  other  confronting  the  beleaguered  city.  A 
mine  had  been  exploded  on  June  25th,  but  the  crater 
had  not  been  sufficiently  large  to  admit  the  entrance 
of  the  Federal  column.  In  this  situation,  a  general 
assault  was  determined  upon  by  Grant.  The  date  was 
fixed  for  the  6th;  but  at  10  a.m.  on  the  3d,  white  flags 
appeared  over  parts  of  the  Confederate  works.  Pem- 
berton sent  a  member  of  his  staff  with  a  letter  to  Grant. 
The  Federal  General  would  not  entertain  any  terms 
but  "unconditional  surrender";  after  personal  inter- 
views between  the  two  commanders,  however,  and  an 
all-night  parley  M'ith  his  own  general  officers,  some 
modifications  were  made  by  Grant.  He  agreed  to  parole 
the  troops,  to  permit  Confederate  officers  to  wear  their 
side  arms,  and  to  allow  all  staff  officers  one  horse.  On 
the  night  of  July  3d,  General  Grant  summoned  all  his 
division  commanders,  which,  he  says  in  his  Memoirs 
was  "  the  nearest  approach  to  a  '  council  of  war '  I 
ever  held."  The  surrender  occurred  on  July  4th,  the 
day  on  which  was  completed  the  victory  at  Gettys- 
burg. Grant  says:  "The  fate  of  the  Confederacy 
was  sealed  when  Vicksburg  fell.  Much  hard  fighting 
was  to  be  done  afterward   and  many   precious  lives 


276  The  Mississippi 

sacrificed;  but  the  morale  was  with  the  supporters  of 
the  Union  ever  after." 

Port  Hudson  surrendered  to  General  Banks  on 
July  9th. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  these  two  great  Federal 
triumphs,  the  Confederate  General  Holmes  attacked 
Prentiss  at  Helena,  Arkansas,  with  eight  thousand  men 
and  was  defeated  by  a  force  hardly  more  than  half  as 
numerous.  This  was  the  final  effort  to  relieve  Vicks- 
burg  and  was  made  too  late  to  have  been  effective  un- 
der any  circumstances.  There  were  thirty-one  thousand 
six  hundred  prisoners  surrendered  at  Vicksburg  and 
six  thousand  at  Port  Hudson.  When  Grant  entered 
the  city,  it  was  a  community  of  cave-dwellers.  Living 
quarters  had  been  dug  in  the  sides  of  the  clay  cliffs 
that  afforded  secure  protection  from  shells  that  were 
constantly  thrown  into  the  town  from  Porter's  boats 
upon  the  river.  "  The  Father  of  Waters  "  was  now^  in 
Federal  hands  from  source  to  mouth.  Fiercely  as  the 
conflict  raged  in  the  East,  dwellers  along  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  knew  only  peace. 

History's  verdict  will  probably  fix  Grant's  master 
stroke,  as  a  military  tactician,  at  Vicksburg  rather  than 
at  Richmond  or  Appomattox.  There  is  not  a  career 
in  the  annals  of  time  exactly  like  his.  A  discredited 
tanner's  clerk,  who  had  set  out  in  his  fortieth  year  to 
fight  such  battles  as  the  world  never  had  known,  ended 
by  having  command  of  half  a  milHon  men  and  twice 
becoming  President  of  the  United  States.  It  is  more 
marvellous  than  the  tale  of  Joan  of  Are! 


CHAPTER  XVI 

*'The  Mississippi  Bubble" 

THE  only  one  to  give  the  "  Father  of  Waters  "  a 
bad  name  was  a  Scotchman  named  John  Law. 
His  schemes  of  "  frenzied  finance  "  had  no  more 
to  do  with  the  Mississippi  than  with  the  Ganges.  The 
Province  of  Louisiana  never  profited  to  the  value  of  a 
livre  from  all  the  notes  issued  in  the  name  of  "  The  Com- 
pany of  the  Indies."  Law's  tremendous  "  gamble,"  is 
known  in  history  as  *'  The  Mississippi  Bubble,"  and,  as 
such,  it  claims  space  in  this  volume. 

It  is  the  only  Scotch  twist  ever  given  to  the  mighty 
river. 

From  the  view-point  of  the  bankers  of  to-day,  John 
Law  was  misunderstood.  In  a  broker's  opinion,  Law's 
partner  in  the  "  flotation,"  the  Due  d'Orleans,  "  laid 
down  on  him  "  and  caused  the  failure  of  an  elaborate 
financial  problem.  Had  Law  lived  in  the  twentieth 
century,  his  methods  would  have  been  described  as  su- 
perb finance.  He  was  a  promoter,  and  much  is  per- 
mitted to  that  branch  of  the  profession  in  extracting 
money  from  the  public.  Modern  "  promoting  "  con- 
sists in  unloading  upon  people  who  have  money  se- 
curities of  real  or  apocryphal  values.  The  problem  is 
to  sell  certificates  representing  shares  in  "  soulless " 
corporations  and  to  get  money  for  them.  A  writer  in 
the  Bankers'  Magazine  frankly  says: 

•277 


278  The  Mississippi 

Like  many  reformers  who  succeed  in  unchaining  pent-up 
social  and  financial  forces,  Law  was  unable  to  keep  these 
forces  under  command,  and  for  the  chaos  that  resulted  he  is 
held  responsible,  although  no  one  was  more  surprised  than 
he  that  the  spirit  of  peace  and  prosperity,  which  he  sum- 
moned, changed  so  soon  into  a  demon  of  discord  and  disaster. 

There  we  have  the  American  view-point,  exactly  as 
the  failure  of  the  attempt  to  pool  the  Great  Northern 
and  the  Northern  Pacific  railroads  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Northern  Securities  Company,"  in  May,  1901, 
would  have  been  explained  by  the  small  group  of  New 
York  bankers  and  promoters  who  attempted  to  carry 
the  plan  into  effect.  But  the  French  of  to-day,  as  of  two 
hundred  years  ago,  do  not  accept  Law's  ideas  of  finance. 
In  less  degree,  history  repeated  itself  in  France  when 
the  Panama  Canal  "  bubble  "  burst,  at  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  the  good  name  of  a  more  de- 
serving man  than  John  Law,  the  Count  de  Lesseps,  was 
branded  with  similar  disgrace.  The  historic  imposition 
of  the  Assignats  of  1789  had  its  counterpart  in  Civil 
War  finance  of  the  United  States,  in  1861-65. 

John  Law's  preparation  for  a  career  that  made  him 
so  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  not  that  by  which  several  of  America's  successful 
multi-millionaires  equipped  themselves  for  the  acquire- 
ment and  absorption  of  other  people's  money.  He  did 
not  enter  a  broker's  office  and  learn  to  hypothecate 
shares  left  with  him  as  collateral,  or  to  charge  interest 
on  loans  that  were  not  made,  or  to  collect  and  retain 
interest  upon  stocks  or  bonds  held  as  margins,  and  in 
that  way  eventually  to  become  the  heartless  creature 
that  the  successful  stock-broker  must  be.  He  did  "  get 
near  "  to  banking  methods  in  Amsterdam,  later,  as  we 


**The  Mississippi  Bubble"  279 

shall  see,  but  only  after  he  had  failed  to  carry  out  plans 
of  his  own. 

The  father  of  John  Law  was  a  wealthy  Edinburgh 
goldsmith.  At  twenty,  young  John  left  home,  saw 
Europe,  and  returned  home  an  accomplished  "  specu- 
lator." In  Law's  time,  there  was  not  a  stock  exchange, 
and  the  only  means  of  "  speculation  "  was  what  is  now 
indecorously  described  as  "  gambling,"  or  "  bucking  the 
tiger."  Otherwise,  Law's  morals  were  excellent.  He 
went  to  Holland  to  study  the  financial  methods  of  that 
wonderful  people.  The  Dutch  would  "  plunge  "  on 
anj^thing  from  a  tulip  bulb  to  a  new  brand  of  schnapps. 
That  rich,  resolute  Republic  had  inherited  all  the  push 
of  the  Venetians,  without  their  vices.  Amsterdam  was 
the  commercial  metropolis  of  Europe.  INIoney  could 
be  had  there  for  two  or  three  per  cent.  Her  celebrated 
and  mysterious  bank  promised  inexhaustible  resources. 
Holland's  financial  system  was  an  enigma.  Law 
fathomed  it  before  he  was  thirty  years  of  age.  He 
was  a  solver  of  riddles. 

When  Law  returned  to  Scotland  again  and  found 
that  business  was  stagnant,  he  suggested  a  remedy. 
He  ascribed  the  commercial  lethargy  to  "  a  deficiency 
of  capital."  What  Law  had  not  learned  was  the 
difference  between  "  capital "  and  "  currency."  He 
thought  them  the  same.  Law's  utterances  at  the  time 
are  historic:  "  The  proprietor  needs  money  to  clear  up 
his  land;  the  manufacturer  must  have  it  to  multiply 
his  looms ;  the  merchant  cries  for  it  to  extend  his  opera- 
tions." Law's  meaning  was  that  everj^  business  needs 
funds  for  first  materials  and  manual  labour.  It  was 
almost  a  gleam  of  our  vaunted  "  protection,"  our 
Government  and  State  land-grants  to  railroads. 


28o  The  Mississippi 

When  Law  became  convinced  that  the  prosperity 
of  a  country  is  gauged  by  the  currency  in  circulation, 
he  lay  awake  of  nights  planning  the  creation  of  the 
needed  conditions.  He  offered  the  scheme  to  his  own 
country  in  1700,  but  the  canny  Scots  promptly 
stamped  it  "  Nae  gude!  "  He  exhausted  all  arguments 
that  the  American  "  Greenbackers  "  employed  at  the 
end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Then  he  crossed  the 
channel  and  was  unsuccessful  at  Paris,  although  he  had 
the  favour  of  the  Due  d'Orleans.  Thence,  he  went  to 
Italy.  He  was  told  at  Turin  to  get  out  of  the  country 
and  he  took  the  advice.  Next,  we  hear  of  him  in  Ger- 
many; but  no  better  success  attended  him.  On  the 
green  cloth,  however,  he  won  enormous  sums.  In 
Germany,  he  gathered  in  fully  two  million  livres.  With 
this  capital.  Law  hurried  to  Paris, — much  as  a  young 
American  takes  his  fortune,  won  in  a  wild-cat  mine,  to 
New  York,  buys  a  seat  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  and 
plays  broker  and  banker. 

Louis  XIV.  had  just  died,  after  bankrupting  the 
treasury;  but  Law  knew  there  were  millions  of  livres 
in  the  stockings,  tea-caddies,  and  strong  boxes  of  the 
bourgeoisie  throughout  the  beautiful  land  of  France. 
He  saw  an  opportunity  to  try  his  experiment, — much 
as  Dr.  Ox,  when  he  reached  the  sleepy  city  of  Quiquen- 
done  in  the  Low  Countries, — and  he  sought  his  former 
patron,  the  Due  d'Orleans,  who  had  become  regent. 
The  way  for  his  historic  enterprise  was  made  easy. 

The  specie  circulation  in  France  at  the  beginning 
of  1716  was  supposed  to  be  eight  hundred  million  livres, 
or, — quoting  the  French  livre  as  of  equal  value  to  the 
English  shilling,— roughly,  $200,000,000.  This  was 
thought  to  be  an  intolerable  burden,  although  it  was 


"The  Mississippi  Bubble"  281 

only  one  fifth  that  imposed  upon  the  people  of  the 
United  States  by  the  Civil  War.  Previous  fluctua- 
tions in  weight  of  the  livre  were  seized  upon  by  Law 
to  issue  demand  notes,  payable  in  livres  containing  a 
specified  quantity  of  "  silver  of  established  fineness." 
Just  what  was  to  be  "  established "  w^as  not  stated. 
This  act  removed  the  stigma  from  the  livre,  when  the 
coin  was  supplanted  by  Law's  paper  money.  He  con- 
trived, by  that  means,  to  float  fifty-nine  million  livres 
(say  $15,000,000),  of  his  paper!  A  mere  bagatelle,  as 
shown  by  the  ease  with  which  shares  of  the  United 
Ship-building  Company,  having  a  capital  of  $100,000,- 
000,  were  put  out  in  this  country. 

On  January  1,  1719,  the  regent,  in  the  name  of 
France,  took  possession  of  Law's  bank,  due  to  some 
dispute  over  *'  graft "  coming  to  him.  His  first  act 
was  to  discredit  Law  by  omitting  from  the  faces  of  the 
notes  the  words,  "  of  the  same  rate  and  fineness."  The 
printing-presses  then  got  busy  and,  in  eleven  months' 
time,  issued  ten  hundred  and  ten  million  livres  of  paper 
money.     Let  us  call  this  $252,000,000. 

Here  is  where  the  name  of  the  Mississippi  becomes 
associated  with  Law.  While  the  bank  was  in  his  hands, 
he  and  his  partners  had  been  granted  the  exclusive  privi- 
lege of  trading  to  the  French  possessions  on  the  con- 
tinent of  America.  This  single  fact  has  attached  to 
Law's  bold  financiering  in  France  the  name  of  "  The 
Mississippi  Bubble."  The  charter  also  included  the 
West  Indies  and  "  all  countries  to  the  east  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope."  Law  had  incorporated  under  the  title 
of  "  The  Company  of  the  Indies."  This  corporation 
soon  absorbed  remarkable  powers.  It  "  took  over  '* 
the  mint,  to  coin  the  livres  any  weight  its  directors 


282  The  Mississippi 

chose;  it  engaged  to  lend  to  the  Government  sixteen 
hundred  milhon  hvres  ($400,000,000) ,  at  three  per  cent., 
and  to  do  this  the  bank  was  restored  to  Law  on  Feb- 
ruary 22, 1720.  Five  days  later,  the  infamous  arret  was 
issued  which  prohibited  any  corporation  or  individual 
from  possessing  any  bullion,  or  more  than  five  hundred 
livres  in  specie.  The  notes  of  the  Company  of  the 
Indies  were  made  the  only  legal  tender.  This  com- 
pelled all  hoarders  of  money  to  deposit  it  in  the  bank 
and  to  receive  notes  therefor.  The  value  of  a  French 
mark  of  silver  had  been  forty  livres;  but,  on  March 
5th,  an  arret  appeared  fixing  the  value  of  the  mark  of 
silver  at  eighty  livres.  This  was  semi-repudiation;  it 
enabled  Law  to  settle  at  one  half,  hut  that  was  not 
where  the  high  finance  came  in.  It  was  a  lure  to  draw 
into  the  company  all  the  silver  still  outstanding.  This 
is  made  clear  by  the  next  step.  The  announcement 
was  issued  that  after  April  1st,  the  value  of  the  mark 
of  silver  would  only  be  seventy  livres  and  after  May 
1st,  only  sixty-five  livres.  That  was  a  "  hurry  up  " 
order  of  the  rankest  kind.  The  idea  was  worthy  of  Wall 
Street.  Naturally,  unthinking  men  desired  to  get  as 
much  paper  for  their  coin  as  possible,  and  the  rush  to 
the  bargain  counter  was  unabated.  In  three  weeks, 
in  anticipation  of  the  impending  reduction  in  value  of 
the  mark.  Law  was  given  forty-four  million  livres  of 
coin  for  his  worthless  paper.  Thus,  and  through  other 
channels,  this  frenzied  financier  issued,  between  INIarch 
1st  and  May  2d,  notes  equal  to  1,626,672,910  livres. 
All  told,  notes  were  out  for  2,235,085,590  livres,  or 
double  the  average  amount  of  money  in  France.  This 
proves  that  people  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  looking 
for  "  good  things,"  got  "  stung." 


*'  The  Mississippi  Bubble  "  283 

"  In  less  than  three  weeks  after  the  last  issue  of 
notes,"  says  the  unknown  banker,  writing  in  the 
Bankers'  Magazine,  "  the  bank  was  murdered  by  the 
Governinent:  without  that  interference,  the  bank  was 
due  to  have  lived  exactly  three  months  longer."  The 
misfortune  that  dejirived  Law  of  three  additional 
months,  in  which  to  rob  the  people  of  Europe,  appears 
to  grieve  the  banker-author  deeply.  He  had  practi- 
cally gathered  in  every  livre  of  loose  change  in  the 
kingdom ;  a  fairly  reasonable  man  would  think  the  hour 
to  stop  had  struck. 

The  collapse  in  value  of  the  paper  money  was 
greater  than  that  which  came  to  the  bills  of  the  South- 
ern Confederacy. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  editor  of  the  Bankers' 
Magazine,^ 

The  fatal  errors  of  Law's  "  system  "  were :  First,  He  held 
that  paper  money,  if  it  rested  upon  any  basis  of  solid  wealth 
besides  coin,  was  just  as  sound  and  as  firmly  established  as 
if  represented  by  specie  in  the  vaults  of  the  issuer.  Second, 
He  believed  that  an  act  of  Government  could  give  the  potency 
and  value  of  money  to  paper  which  had  not  that  support 
of  coin. 

Similar  theories  have  been  argued  in  both  Houses 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  during  the  last 
generation.  Law's  opportunity  was  offered  by  the  re- 
vulsion of  sentiment  in  France  following  the  death  of 
Louis  XIV,  During  the  King's  life,  he  had  been  the 
object  of  popular  adulation;  but  hardly  was  he  laid  in 
the  grave  before  his  statues  were  stoned  and  his  name 

^  Banker's  Magazine,  1874. 


284  The  Mississippi 

was  execrated.^     Law  had  his  play,  however.     He  made 
money  "  plenty." 

1  Charles  Mackay's  History  of   the  Mississippi  Scheme   is   worth 
reading;  Emerson  Hough's  novel  is  highly  entertaining. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Great  Cities  of  the  Valley 

FIVE  great  cities  have  developed  along  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  The  one  farthest  north,  Min- 
neapolis, is  at  the  head  of  navigation  and  within 
six  hundred  miles  of  the  river's  source.  The  one 
farthest  south.  New  Orleans,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  from  the  river's  mouth.  Community  of  interests 
makes  of  Saint  Paul  and  Minneapolis  one  city.  Saint 
Louis  owes  its  location  to  the  nearby  outlet  of  the  Mis- 
souri. Memphis  occupies  a  point  almost  on  an  air  line 
between  the  industrial  and  commercial  centres  of  the 
North-east  and  the  growing  South-west. 

Rivers  are  the  foster-mothers  of  communities,  small 
or  large.  In  most  cases,  streams  upon  which  large 
cities  stand  have  been  made  to  serve  purposes  of  foreign 
or  domestic  commerce.  When  too  shallow  for  ships 
that  go  down  to  the  sea,  they  have  been  canalised  and 
made  to  furnish  internal  transi3ortation.  INIoscow  and 
Madrid  are  two  exceptional  examples  of  cities  indepen- 
dent of  usable  rivers.  Madrid  was  built  by  Philip  11. 
upon  what  he  declared  to  be  "  an  impossible  site."  It 
stands  upon  the  top  of  a  truncated  cone,  having  a  de- 
sert of  sage-bush  upon  three  quarters  of  its  circmn- 
ference.  Cairo,  "  the  City  of  Saladin,"  owes  much  to 
the  wonderful  river  that  has  converted  a  long  canon, 
called  the  Nile  Valley,  and  its  o^\ti  delta  into  the  most 
fertile  land  upon  this  earth.     Paris,  as  Violet  le  Due 

285 


2  86  The  Mississippi 

demonstrates,  never  would  have  risen  to  greatness  ex- 
cept for  an  island  in  the  Seine  that  suggested  a  site 
for  defence  in  a  period  when  only  the  strongest  and 
most  wary  survived.  Chicago  is  upon  the  Great  Lakes, 
having  river  outlet  through  the  majestic  St.  Lawrence. 
St.  Petersburg  has  the  Neva,  London  the  Thames, 
Vienna  the  Danube,  and  New  York  the  Hudson  and  a 
salt  water  strait.  Berlin,  for  example,  could  do  with- 
out the  Spree;  but  every  city  is  made  more  self-reliant 
and  prosperous  by  association  with  a  river,  although 
boats  from  across  the  seas  may  not  come  to  its  wharves. 
The  Mississippi  is  navigable  for  large  freight- 
carrying  steamboats  from  the  Gulf  of  JNIexico  to  Min- 
neapolis, a  distance  of  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  miles.  With  the  possible  exception  of 
Memphis,  the  cities  and  villages  along  its  banks  owe 
what  they  are  to  the  river.  Some  communities  that 
promised  to  achieve  greatness  have  failed  of  their  ap- 
parent destinies ;  but  all  are  prosperous  and  their  people 
are  intelligent  and  happy. 

SAINT    PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS 

The  "  Twin  City  "  of  Minnesota  must  one  day  be- 
come united  in  name  and  municipal  government.  The 
same  fantastic,  deterrent  rivalry  exists  that  deferred 
for  fifty  years  a  consolidation  of  Brooklyn  and  INIan- 
hattan,  although  the  two  cities  were  only  separated  by 
a  narrow  strait  connecting  Long  Island  Sound  with 
New  York  Bay.  The  union  of  the  two  INIinnesota 
cities  would  giye  to  that  State  one  community  of  half 
a  million  people. 

Louis  Hennepin  probably  was  the  first  white  man 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  287 

to  see  the  great  fall  in  the  Mississippi,  which  he  named 
Anthony  after  his  i^atron  saint:  therefore,  he  may  be 
credited  with  discovery  of  the  sites  of  Saint  Paul  and 
Minneapolis.  That  was  in  1680,  sixty  years  after  the 
Pilgrims  had  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock.  For  nearly 
a  century,  no  record  exists  of  any  verification  of  Hen- 
nepin's statement.  Captain  Jonathan  Cancer,  of  Con- 
necticut, ascended  the  Mississippi,  as  far  as  the  fall,  in 
November,  1776.  The  island  now  below  the  cascade 
w^as  then  upon  its  crest.  Lieutenant  Pike,  before  set- 
ting out  upon  his  historic  journey  up  the  river,  held 
a  council  with  the  Indians  above  the  fall.  Not  long 
after  (1819),  Colonel  Leavenworth,  with  ninety-eight 
soldiers,  established  a  stockade  upon  the  heights  over- 
looking the  junction  of  the  Mhinesota  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi, calling  it  Fort  St.  Anthony;  but,  in  1824,  at 
General  Winfield  Scott's  suggestion,  the  name  was 
changed  to  Snelling,  as  a  worthy  tribute  to  the  gallant 
commander  of  the  jjost.  The  first  INIississippi  steam- 
boat, the  Virginia,  ascended  to  Fort  Snelling  on  JNIay 
10,  1823.  Steamboat  traffic  to  the  head  of  navigation 
reached  its  highest  point  in  1857,  when  ninety-nine  boats 
plied  upon  the  Upper  Mississippi,  the  annual  number 
of  their  trips  to  Saint  Paul  exceeding  nine  hundred  and 

fifty. 

A  town  had  grown  at  the  east  side  of  the  fall, 
taking  name  therefrom.  On  the  admission  of  IVIin- 
nesota  as  a  State,  and  later,  this  town  was  a  candidate 
for  the  capital  site.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river  a 
highly  important  incident  occurred.  A  Swiss  watch- 
maker, named  Perry,  tried  to  establish  a  home  upon 
the  military  reservation  surrounding  Fort  Snelling. 
He  was  driven  away  and  became  the  first  actual  settler 


288  The  Mississippi 

at  the  site  of  Saint  Paul.  In  1841,  Father  Lucien 
Galtier  built  a  rude  chapel  of  logs  upon  the  river  bluff, 
near  what  was  then  the  steamboat  landing,  and  named 
it  "  The  Chapel  of  Saint  Paul."  This  humble  church 
gave  name  to  the  present  capital  of  the  State.  The 
city's  history  really  begins  in  1849,  in  which  year 
ISIinnesota  was  organised  as  a  territory  and  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  was  appointed  its  Governor.  Statehood 
followed  in  1858. 

JNIeanwhile,  another  town  had  begun  to  form  upon 
the  west  bank,  at  the  Fall  of  St.  Anthony.  In  1849, 
the  War  Department  gave  to  one  Robert  Smith,  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washing- 
ton, a  claim  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
upon  the  west  bank  and  guaranteed  to  him  the  right 
to  purchase  the  ^vater-power  upon  that  side  of  the  river. 
It  was  not  the  first  example  of  special  favours  to  Con- 
gressmen, but  memory  thereof  still  lingers  in  oMinnesota. 
The  new  town  was  called  INIinneapolis,  although  legal 
titles  to  land  could  not  be  had  until  1855.  It  was  in- 
corporated as  a  city  in  1867.  The  cit}^  of  St.  Anthony 
was  consolidated  with  JNIinneapolis  in  1872,  under  the 
name  of  the  latter, — the  two  boroughs  being  dis- 
tinguished as  East  and  West.  The  State  University 
was  located  in  IMinneapolis,  East,  bringing  much  pres- 
tige to  the  combined  city.  ("  Rah,  rah,  rah!  Ski-U-mah 
— hoorah!  hoorah!  Varsity!  Varsity!  Minne-so-ta!  ") 
INIinneapolis  was  by  that  time  the  manufacturing  centre 
of  the  young  State.  The  power  of  the  fall  at  that  point 
was  calculated  at  thirty  thousand  horses,  and  mammoth 
saw  and  grist  mills  rapidly  took  form  to  utilise  it.  The 
splendid  timber  of  the  Upper  ^lississippi  was  "  logged  " 
to   ^Minneapolis,   there   to   be   converted   into    lumber. 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  289 

Grinding  of  flour  grew  to  such  mammoth  proportions 
that  the  output  of  the  ^linneapolis  mills  at  present  is 
set  down  at  eighty  thousand  barrels  per  day.  The 
United  States  Government  in  recent  years  has  done 
much  to  maintain  the  evenness  of  the  water  supply  at 
St.  Anthony.  A  system  of  reservoirs  has  been  built 
for  impounding  the  floods  of  the  Upper  Mississippi. 
These  barrages  constitute  a  unique  feature  of  the 
economies  of  the  stream.  Like  those  on  the  Nile,  their 
purpose  is  to  secure  a  more  even  water  volume,  and  they 
minimise  the  dangers  of  overflow  by  restraining  the 
spring  floods.  A  new  dam  at  Grand  Rapids  is  a  small 
replica  of  that  at  Assuan,  with  its  gates.  In  some  in- 
stances, the  value  of  the  dams  is  yet  to  be  demonstrated. 
They  certainly  have  proved  to  be  aids  to  navigation 
by  small  craft.  Water  storage  occurs  at  the  following 
points:  The  Winnebagoshish  reservoir,  with  seventy- 
five  square  miles  of  surface;  Leech  Lake  reservoir,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  square  miles  of  surface;  Pine 
River  reservoir;  Pokegama  Lake  reservoir,  ten  square 
miles,  and  Sandy  Lake  reservoir,  area  nine  square  miles. 

Two  features  of  special  pride  to  the  people  of  Mm- 
neapolis  are  Minnehaha  Fall  and  Lake  JNIinnetonka. 
The  little  stream  that  flows  over  the  rocky  ledge  and 
creates  the  pretty  waterfall  often  dries  up  in  hot 
weather.  In  the  words  of  INIetellus  Thomson,  "  It  is 
like  the  Manzanares,  at  Madrid,  it  goes  out  of  town  in 
midsummer."  The  lake,  however,  is  a  charming  and 
popular  warm-weather  retreat  for  the  people  of  the 
Twin  City. 

Saint  Paul  always  has  been  the  capital  of  the  Terri- 
tory and  State  and  is  its  political  centre.  It  was  in- 
corporated as  a  city  on  March  4,  1854,  a  trifle  more 


290  The  Mississippi 

than  four  years  before  Minnesota  became  a  State  of  the 
Union.  Saint  Paul  has  become  the  railroad  centre  of 
the  North-west.  Seven  different  lines  of  rails  connect 
it  with  Chicago.  Two  trunk  lines  to  the  Pacific  coast 
start  there.  A  magnificent  State  Capitol  has  recently 
been  finished,  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,000,  and  a  Roman 
Catholic  cathedral  that  will  excel  in  beaut}^  any  re- 
ligious structure  west  of  St.  Patrick's  cathedral  in  New- 
York.  The  Municipal  Auditorium  will  seat  ten  thou- 
sand people.  An  island  in  the  river  has  been  converted 
into  a  public  park  and  a  comprehensive  system  of  free 
public  baths  established. 

SAINT  LOUIS 

The  proud  claim  of  the  people  of  "  The  Mound 
City  "  is  that  Saint  Louis  "  stands  at  the  heart  of  the 
Continent."  Its  site  is  very  near  the  centre  of  the  INIis- 
sissippi  Valley,  the  basin  of  North  America.  It  is 
about  midway  between  Saint  Paul  and  New  Orleans; 
Pittsburg  and  Denver.  Topographically,  it  covers  a 
series  of  ridges  between  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri, 
and  the  Meramec.  Its  general  altitude  is  about  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  rivers,  rising  gradually  to  that 
height.  It  extends  about  twenty  miles  along  the  west 
bank  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  seventy  miles  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico; 
one  hundred  river  steamers  are  often  seen  at  one  time 
upon  its  levee. 

Saint  Louis  dates  from  the  an-ival  of  Pierre  Le- 
clade  Liguest,  a  New  Orleans  merchant  who  had  ob- 
tained an  exclusive  concession  to  trade  in  furs  on  the 
upper  Mississippi  and  INIissouri  rivers,  and  took  up  his 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  291 

claim  on  February  15,  1764.  Auguste  Chouteau,  a 
companion,  cleared  the  first  ground  and  built  the  first 
house.  Liguest  had  left  New  Orleans,  with  a  party 
of  French  voyageurs,  in  August  of  1763,  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  founding  a  city  on  the  Mississippi  near  the 
mouth  of  the  JNIissouri.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in 
the  north,  the  cession  to  Great  Britain  of  the  Illinois 
country  occurred  and  many  French,  who  disliked  the 
British,  moved  to  Liguest's  settlement  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  river,  already  named  in  honour  of  the  patron 
saint  of  the  King  of  France.  When  the  territory  of 
Louisiana  was  retroceded  to  Spain,  the  French  Gov- 
ernor at  Saint  Louis  died  of  a  broken  heart. 

St.  Ange  de  Bellerive  became  Governor-General  in 
1765.  The  first  grants  of  land  were  made  by  Liguest, 
— who  often  wrote  his  name  Leclade  in  deeds, — to 
Bellerive  on  August  11,  1766.  The  Spaniards  never 
exercised  any  control  over  the  settlement;  but,  in  1767, 
word  was  received  that  Spain  intended  to  garrison  the 
site.  This  announcement  created  alarm  and  threats  of 
resistance.  The  fort  was  not  built  and  the  troops  never 
arrived.  Bellerive  was  a  warm  friend  of  Pontiac,  the 
Ottawa  chief,  and  after  the  Spaniards  left,  the  famous 
Indian  visited  him.  At  that  time,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  Red  Jacket,  Pontiac  was  the  greatest  of  all 
living  American  Indians.  His  dream  was  to  drive  the 
English  into  the  Atlantic.  To  this  day,  French  de- 
scendants at  Saint  Louis  believe  that  Pontiac  was 
poisoned  by  the  British. 

Don  Alexander  O'Reilly  came  from  Spain  to  New 
Orleans  to  assume  command  of  the  Louisiana  territory. 
He  had  three  thousand  troops  and  his  reception  by  the 
French  population  was  very  cold.     He  sent  a  deputy. 


292  The  Mississippi 

Piernas,  to  Saint  Louis  in  1770.  This  man  was  suc- 
cessful in  ingratiating  himself  with  the  people.  When 
an  Osage  chief  announced  the  intention  of  killing  Pier- 
nas, he  was  himself  slain  by  a  Shawnee.  True  to  the 
mercurial  French  temperament,  the  Osage  was  buried 
with  much  honour  upon  the  eminence  that  afterward 
was  to  give  to  Saint  Louis  the  title  of  "  The  INIound 
City." 

The  Governor  who  succeeded  Piernas  was  popular, 
but  he  was  replaced  by  Don  Fernando  de  Leyba  in 
1778.  The  American  Revolution  was  then  in  progress. 
Both  French  and  Spanish  hated  the  English  and  sj^m- 
pathised  with  the  Colonists.  An  intrenchment  was 
thrown  around  the  village;  but,  in  1780,  a  party  of 
Canadian-Frenchmen,  aided  by  one  thousand  up-river 
Indians,  attacked  the  town,  killed  forty  of  its  citizens, 
and  took  as  many  more  prisoners.  Francis  Crozat,  the 
next  commander,  so  thoroughly  fortified  the  place  that 
it  never  again  was  attacked.  The  first  recorded  "  June 
rise  "  of  the  Mississippi  occurred  in  1785  and  threw  the 
citizens  of  the  town  into  consternation.  Saint  Louis 
was  flooded  to  the  present  line  of  Main  Street.  The 
immediate  effect  of  the  overflow  was  to  drive  settlers 
from  the  lowlands  to  the  city  upon  the  hills;  but,  in 
1790,  it  did  not  possess  a  post-oflice,  ferry,  or  manufac- 
tory of  any  sort.  The  Saint  Louis  merchant  of  that 
time  kept  his  stock  in  a  chest  holding  a  few  tools,  rifles, 
shot,  powder,  and  red  paint.  A  feriy  was  established 
in  1797,  that  is  still  in  operation. 

The  history  of  Saint  Louis  really  begins  with  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  (1803)  that  joined  the  destiny  of 
that  vast  tract  of  territory  with  the  United  States. 
Lewis   and   Clark  built  their  flat-boats   and  outfitted 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  293 

their  epoch-making  expedition  up  the  Missouri  and 
down  the  Columhia  River  at  this  thriving  village,  then 
having  a  population  of  six  thousand:  but  their  report 
makes  scant  mention  of  the  natural  advantages  of  the 
site.  Lieutenant  Pike  began  his  memorable  trip  up 
the  INIississippi  from  the  budding  cit5^  The  first  news- 
paper in  the  West,  The  Republic,  was  founded  there  in 
1804. 

Jean  N.  Nicollet,  whose  footsteps  we  have  followed 
in  the  Itasca  wilderness,  was  the  first  eulogist  of  Saint 
Louis.  "  Future  generations  will  inquire  of  us  all  that 
concerns  the  origin  of  this  Queen  City  of  the  majestic 
Mississippi,"  he  wrote  in  1838.  "  Saint  Louis  was  born 
French,"  he  said  in  1842,  "  but  her  cradle  was  hung  in 
the  forest,  her  infancy  stunted  by  unavoidable  priva- 
tions, and  her  early  maturity  retarded  by  the  terror  of 
the  Indian  cry.  Abandoned  by  her  Castihan  guard- 
ians, she  was  reclaimed  by  her  first  parent  only  to  be 
once  more  repudiated." 

The  great  Territory  of  Missouri  was  organised  in 
1813  and  in  the  same  year  the  first  brick  house  was 
built  in  the  young  city,  then  boasting  sixteen  thousand 
people.  Saint  Louis  was  so  remote  from  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  that  her  citizens  hardly  knew  of  the  second 
war  with  Great  Britain.  The  town  had  been  incor- 
porated in  1809  and  a  city  charter  was  secured  in  1822. 
General  Lafayette  was  warmly  welcomed  in  1825. 
Cholera  ravaged  the  city  in  1849.  The  first  railroad 
was  opened  in  1851.  The  Missouri  Compromise  gave 
a  check  to  the  city's  growth;  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War,  owing  to  the  attitude  of  the  Governor  of 
Missouri,  it  became  turbulent,  like  Baltimore,  because 
many  of  its  people  believed  INIissouri  to  be  in  fact,  as 


294  The  Mississippi 

well  as  in  name,  a  Southern  State  and  obligated  to 
secede  from  the  Federal  Union. 

Saint  Louis  was  swept  by  a  tornado  on  May  27, 
1896.  The  storm  approached  from  the  north-west, 
crossed  the  city  from  Tower  Grove  Park  to  East  Saint 
Louis,  on  the  Illinois  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  destroy- 
ing $15,000,000  worth  of  property. 

The  phenomenal  growth  of  Saint  Louis  is  indicated 
by  an  eight-fold  increase  in  its  assessed  valuation  in 
forty  years.  It  occupies  a  unique  position  among  all 
municipalities  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  free  city, 
absolutely  independent  of  the  county  government.  It 
has  its  own  executive,  judiciary,  and  legislature.  In 
Tower  Grove  Park  is  a  mulberry  tree,  reared  from  a 
slip  brought  from  Shakespeare's  grave  at  Stratford-on- 
Avon  by  the  late  Adelaide  Neilson.  Unlike  New 
Orleans,  the  French  characteristics  of  Saint  Louis  have 
almost  disappeared,  although  the  French  language  is 
spoken  in  many  households.  It  is  to-day  the  most 
German  city  in  the  American  Republic,  except 
Milwaukee. 

MEMPHIS 

Memphis  occupies  the  only  site  on  the  INIississippi 
adapted  for  a  town  of  large  size  between  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  and  Natchez.  Prior  to  the  treaty  of  II- 
defonso,  the  Spaniards  built  a  fort  there;  but  the  his- 
tory of  the  city  begins  with  a  grant  from  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  to  John  Rice,  by  which,  for  ten 
pounds  sterling  per  hundred  acres,  paid  to  the  State, 
Rice  acquired  five  thousand  acres  of  land  upon  Chicasa 
Bluff.     This  elevated  plateau  had  been  the  home  of  the 


H    > 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  295 

Chicasa  branch  of  the  great  Muskliogean  tribe.  The 
grant  was  recorded  on  June  24,  1784.  The  irregular 
tract  began  one  mile  below  the  mouth  of  Wolf  River 
and  extended  north  many  miles:  a  description  of  the 
plot  is  very  complex.  Upon  this  five  thousand  acres, 
a  large  part  of  JNIemphis  stands. 

John  Rice  was  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land  in  mid- 
dle and  eastern  Tennessee, — a  very  energetic  man.  He 
removed  from  North  Carolina  to  Nashville  soon  after 
entry  of  these  lands,  and  was  killed  by  Indians  in 
1791.^  Judge  Overton,  in  1794,  bought  for  $500  from 
Elisha  Rice,  brother  and  an  heir  of  the  deceased  owner, 
the  Chicasa  Bluff  tract.  The  Judge  was  timid  regard- 
ing the  title  to  the  land  and  insisted  that  Elisha  Rice's 
three  brothers  join  in  the  transfer.  Next  day  after 
purchase,  Overton  conveyed  an  undivided  half  interest 
in  the  land  to  General  Andrew  Jackson.  The  two  men 
were  bosom  friends,  and  the  purchase  was  doubtless  on 
joint  account. 

The  North-west,  except  a  settlement  at  Saint  Louis, 
was  unpeopled  west  of  the  Ohio.  The  ^Mississippi 
Valley  was  without  population,  except  at  Natchez  and 
New  Orleans.  Jackson  sold  three  quarters  of  his  half 
interest,  so  that  Chicasa  Bluff  was  owned  thus :  Judge 
Overton,  one  half;  Andrew  Jackson,  one  eighth;  Wil- 
liam Winchester,  one  eighth;  and  James  Winchester, 
one  quarter.  The  property  remained  in  these  hands 
until  President  Madison's  administration,  when  Isaac 
Selby  and  Andrew  Jackson  were  appointed  a  commis- 
sion to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  native  tribes.  By 
a  covenant,  signed  October  19,  1818,  the  Chicagaws 
surrendered  all  claim  to  lands  lying  north  of  the 
1  Haywood's  History  of 


296  The  Mississippi 

Tennessee  boundary.  ^lemphis  was  plotted  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  while  General  Jackson  was  in  Florida. 
Changes  in  the  river  front  rendered  a  re-survey  of  the 
Rice  tract  difficult.  ]Many  years  of  litigation  followed : 
but  the  Jackson  treaty  of  1818  extinguished  all 
the  Indian  titles.  There  was  a  grant  to  one  John 
Ramsey  that  conflicted,  and  although  no  considera- 
tion was  mentioned,  its  genuineness  never  was  ques- 
tioned. 

INIemphis  was  named  after  the  ancient  city  on  the 
Nile,  which  stood  twenty  miles  south  of  the  present 
capital  of  Egypt,  Cairo.  The  new  jNIemphis  was  laid 
off  to  the  cardinal  points,  parallel  with  the  INIississippi, 
and  upon  the  bluff,  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  above  the 
highest  flood.  A  cluster  of  islands  in  the  river  north 
of  the  city  was  known  as  "  Paddy's  Hen  and  Chickens  " ; 
three  miles  below  is  President's  Island,  containing  sev- 
eral thousand  acres  of  land,  mostly  fertile.^  The  first 
mayor  of  Memphis,  M.  B.  Winchester,  took  office  in 
INIarch,  1827. 

During  the  Civil  War,  JNIemphis  became  a  point  of 
strategic  importance  in  General  Grant's  campaign 
w^hich  ended  with  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg. 
Major-General  Washburn  put  the  city  under  martial 
law  on  July  2,  1864;  but  the  rights  of  private  property 
were  fully  respected  and  the  order  was  revoked  on  July 
2,  1865. 

Among  heroes  of  the  city.  Colonel  David  Crockett 
is  the  immortal  figure.  He  crossed  the  ]Mississippi 
from  Memphis  for  the  last  time  on  his  way  to  Texas 
and  to  his  glorious  death  at  the  Alamo,  in  San  Antonio. 
He  had  spent  considerable  time  in  Memphis  in  1823  and 

1  History  of  Memphis,  by  James  D.  Davis,  p.  29. 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  297 

the  local  history  literally  teems  with  stories  of  Crockett. 
Thomas  II.  Benton's  name  is  also  associated  with  tlie 
early  days  of  the  city.  An  anecdote  of  Ahraham  I^incoln 
is  recorded  by  Davis :  "  In  the  summer  of  1831,  a  steam- 
boat bound  up  the  river  touched  at  Foy's  Point,  opposite 
INIemphis.  A  young  man  landed  and  asked  one  Wap- 
panocha  Furgason  for  work,  saying  he  had  been  robbed 
on  the  boat.  He  was  put  to  chopping  wood  and  worked 
until  he  had  earned  money  enough  to  proceed  to  his 
home  in  Illinois." 

The  revival  season  of  Lorenzo  Dow,  in  1826,  is 
mentioned  in  all  histories  of  Memphis.  The  parson  is 
described  by  the  historian  thus :  "  He  was  below  me- 
dium height,  awkward,  with  swaggering  walk  and 
gesture;  but  he  possessed  much  natural  drollery 
by  which  he  could  rouse  his  hearers  from  tears  to 
laughter." 

The  recent  growth  of  Memphis  has  been  pheno- 
menal. 

NEW    ORLEANS 

After  Quebec  and  Mont-Real,  New  Orleans  became 
the  "dream  town"  of  France  in  the  New  World.  It  rose 
upon  the  wreck  of  John  Law's  preposterous  ^lississippi 
scheme  which  almost  bankrupted  the  people  of  France 
but  served  to  draw  universal  attention  to  the  Province 
of  Louisiana,  that  up  to  that  time  had  received  little 
popular  thought.  The  first  act  of  Bienville's  second 
administration  as  Governor  of  Louisiana  was  to  select 
a  site  for  the  capital  of  the  colony.  He  chose  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  City  of  New  Orleans.  There  he 
erected    a    stockade.     Bienville    not    only    showed    his 


298  The  Mississippi 

sagacity  but  his  courage,  because  he  dared  to  ignore 
the  preferences  of  the  home  government  for  ^lanchac, 
where  communication  was  open  with  the  Gulf  through 
the  ]^you  ^lanchac  and  the  Amite  River.  The  land 
now  occupied  by  the  "  Crescent  City  "  was  marshy  and 
covered  with  a  scrubby  growth  of  semi-tropical  verdure. 
Bienville  foresaw  that  ships  of  deeper  draught  than 
those  then  in  use  would  be  built  and  that  the  river 
must  be  the  city's  outlet  to  the  sea.  Remember  his  Cana- 
dian birth  and  his  close  acquaintance  with  the  gigantic 
St.  Lawrence, — the  one  river  of  this  continent  great 
from  beginning  to  end. 

Then  followed  the  capture  of  Pensacola,  its  re- 
capture by  the  Spanish,  through  bad  faith  of  the  Span- 
ish commander  at  Havana,  to  which  port  the  two  French 
corvettes  carried  their  prisoners  only  to  be  seized,  loaded 
with  Spanish  troops,  and  sent  back  for  the  reversal  of 
a  short-lived  victory.  But,  additional  aid  coming  to 
Bienville  at  Mobile,  whither  he  had  gone,  he  returned 
to  Pensacola  and  turned  defeat  into  complete  victory. 
Deserters  from  the  French  to  the  Spanish  were  sum- 
marily punished  with  death.  Bienville  began  to  en- 
counter renewed  opposition  to  the  transfer  of  the  seat 
of  government  to  the  site  of  the  capital  of  his  choice. 
An  unexampled  overflow  of  the  ^lississippi  that  year 
(1719)  was  urged,  with  much  force,  against  the  lo- 
cation. Hubert,  a  special  messenger  from  the  King 
of  France,  insisted  upon  Natchez;  but  his  pleas  were 
inspired  by  self-interest,  because  he  was  a  large  land- 
owner there.  Bienville  promptly  exposed  this  propen- 
sity to  "  graft "  and  stood  firmly  by  his  choice.  Three 
agents  of  the  Company  of  the  Indies  appear  to  have 
had  more  power  than  Bienville  or  the  royal  cominis- 


LTiiion  l-'i-aiicaisc,  Ni'w  Orleans. 


•  »X)- 1  !■».•> 


.Moss-cdVfixMl   Oak,  Audubon    Park,   New   Orleans. 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  299 

sioner,  for  they  fixed  the  capital  at  New  Biloxi,  on  the 
bay  of  that  name.  Extortionate  taxation  was  then 
imposed  upon  the  colonists  of  Louisiana  by  the  com- 
pany's agents.  Not  until  1722  was  the  site  chosen  by 
Jean  Baptiste  Lemoyne  de  Bienville  officially  pro- 
claimed as  the  capital  of  the  vast  province.  The  exiles 
from  Acadia  settled  there  in  1765.  The  people  of  the 
town  rose  to  arms  in  1768,  against  the  cession  of  Louisi- 
ana to  Spain,  but  were  compelled  to  submit  under 
the  menace  of  a  large  Spanish  force  in  1769.  Two  fires 
devastated  the  city,  the  first  in  1788  and  the  second  in 
1894.  The  destiny  of  New  Orleans  followed  that  of 
the  Louisiana  Province,  which  was  returned  by  Spain 
to  France  in  1800  and  by  France  ceded  to  the 
United  States.  Aaron  Burr's  conspiracy  was  defeated 
in  1807  and  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  occurred  in 
1815. 

An  interesting  incident  in  early  colonial  days  was 
the  arrival  of  "the  Casket  Girls,"  in  the  spring  of 
1728.  Unlike  predecessors,  they  had  not  been  taken 
from  correctional  institutions  but  were  daughters  of 
respectable,  although  poor,  bourgeoise  parents.  When 
they  sailed  from  France,  the  India  Company  gave  to 
each  girl  a  casket  containing  some  useful  articles  of 
dress,  and  this  fact  gave  to  them  the  designation  of 
"les  filles  a  la  cassette.''  The  Ursuline  Sisters  cared 
for  them  until  they  were  married:  owing  to  their  good 
character,  it  subsequently  became  a  matter  of  distinc- 
tion to  claim  descent  from  "  the  Casket  Girls,"  rather 
than  from  the  earlier  arrivals. 

To  this  day,  the  nomenclature  of  the  streets  tells 
the  story  of  French  and  Spanish  domination.  Names 
chosen  by  Le  Blond  de  la  Tour,  when  he  plotted  the 


300  The  Mississippi 

city,  remain,  especially  such  evidences  of  French-Creole 
gallantry  as  the  pretty  feminine  names  of  Suzette,  An- 
gelic, Annette,  and  Celeste.  Several  hundred  saints 
thus  honoured  proves  the  religious  character  of  the 
early  citizens.  Although  the  Creoles  were  overawed 
by  the  Spaniards,  during  the  French  Revolution  they 
imitated  the  classic  tendencies  of  their  "  dear  Paris," 
and  named  many  streets  in  honour  of  Greek  and  Roman 
heroes  or  statesmen.  The  three  graces,  twelve  gods 
jjersona  grata  on  Olympus,  and  the  nine  muses  were 
thus  honoured.  The  water-works  had  place  in  the 
streets  of  the  Naiades  and  Dryades. 

The  Creoles  regard  the  language  they  speak  as  "  a 
beautiful  French."  They  are  so  much  a  part  of  New 
Orleans  that  even  their  caressing,  delicious  dialect  is 
worth  journeying  thither  to  hear.  One  can  begin  at 
253  Rue  Royale,  in  "  a  region  of  architectural  decrepi- 
tude,"— where  is  the  snug  cottage  of  "  Madame  Del- 
phine,"  with  its  bristling,  sierra-like  ridgepole  of  tiles, 
— and,  by  the  route  of  the  French  market,  travel 
through  the  dreamland  of  the  Creole  quarter,  finding 
wonderment  everywhere.  A  typical  corner  exists  at 
Toulouse  Street.  A  few  steps'  divergence  along  that 
quiet  lane  is  the  French  Opera  and  under  its  shadow 
is  the  rendezvous  of  artists,  "  Au  Point  d'Orgue," 
where  painters  have  congregated  for  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years  to  take  cognac  and  absinthe.  Once  in  a 
generation,  a  new  door  is  hung,  but  nobody  remembers 
when  a  key  was  turned  in  a  lock.  It  is  the  abode  of 
yesterday  and  to-morrow.  Its  shabbiness  endears  it  to 
Bohemia, — and  all  the  French  quarter,  like  the  Quartier 
Latin  of  Paris,  is  Bohemian.  At  St.  Anne  and  Royale 
is  the  "  Cafe  des  Exiles,"  where  every  chord  of  a  happy- 


A  'r\  pica!  ( 'onit  r. 


Cafr  (Ics  Artists. 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  301 

hearted  Hfe  finds  its  responsive  note.  The  Creole  girl 
is  always  attractive,  rarely  heaiitifiil,  and,  as  a  matron, 
she  grows  old  with  the  same  gracefulness  that  marks 
everj'^  step  in  her  life.  Mr.  Cable  is  the  troubadour 
of  the  Creole;  one  may  not  intrude  upon  a  field  so 
pre-empted.^ 

There  is  a  street  play  and  pageant  in  New  Orleans 
every  February.  "  Mardi  Gras  "  is  conducted  by  car- 
nival secret  societies.  It  is  a  French  importation, 
brought  over  during  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe.  I^ong 
preparation  and  lavish  expenditure  of  money  charac- 
terise these  parades  and  the  ball  that  closes  the 
festivities. 

Voudouism  is  still  practised  among  the  negroes  dwell- 
ing upon  the  shores  of  Lake  Pontchartrain.  The  an- 
nual service  of  worship  of  the  Evil  One  occurs  on  St. 
John's  eve. 

The  Cathedral  of  St.  Louis,  on  Chartres  Street, 
the  fourth  church  upon  the  site,  embodies  the  history  of 
Catholicism  in  Louisiana.  The  Capuchins  originally 
gained  control  of  the  religious  element  in  the  province; 
but  in  1721,  Father  Charlevoix,  a  Jesuit  missionary, 
came  from  Canada,  by  the  familiar  Illinois  and  JNIis- 
sissippi  rivers  route.  He  found  the  Capuchins  so 
thoroughly  intrenched  that  he  threw  mud  at  their  service. 
Some  of  his  reports  sent  back  to  France  contain 
venemous  attacks  upon  the  morality  of  the  Capuchin 
priesthood.         Similar     bitterness      between      various 

1  The  writer  of  this  volume  is  under  obligations  to  Professor 
Armour  Caldwell  for  original  photographs  of  the  French  quarter  of 
New  Orleans.  Mr.  Louis  Jonte  Header,  formerly  of  New  Orleans, 
kindly  placed  his  library  at  the  writer's  disposal.  If  one  wants  to 
understand  the  New  Orleans  of  the  eighteenth  century  he  must  study 
Mr.  Cable. 


302  The  Mississippi 

branches  of  the  Christian  faith  is  seen  in  Jerusalem 
to-daj\  Rehgiously,  the  Louisiana  territory  was  ul- 
timately divided  into  three  districts.  The  Capuchins 
retained  jurisdiction  from  the  mouth  of  the  INIississippi 
to  that  of  the  Ilhnois.  The  barefoot  Carmehtes  were 
given  stewardship  over  Mobile,  Biloxi,  and  Alebamos. 
The  Jesuits  had  the  country  watered  by  the  Illionis 
and  Wabash,  practically  what  is  to-day  Indiana  and 
Illinois.  Governor  Bienville  was  very  intolerant;  no 
religion  except  that  of  the  Roman  Church  was  permitted. 
All  Jews  were  expelled.  The  arrival  of  the  Ursuline 
nuns  in  1727  is  an  important  episode  in  the  history  of 
the  city.  They  occupied  a  convent  on  Conde  (now 
Chartres)  Street  from  1730  until  1824,  when  they  re- 
moved to  spacious  quarters  on  the  river's  bank,  south 
of  the  city.  During  the  intervening  century,  they  toiled 
namelessly  and  without  earthly  reward  in  the  hospitals 
and  among  the  poor.  War  between  the  Capuchins  and 
Jesuits  was  most  violent  in  1755;  but  the  former  won 
and  the  latter  were  expelled.  All  Jesuit  property  was 
seized  and  sold  at  auction  for  $180,000,  an  enormous  sum 
in  those  times. 

When  Spain  resumed  authority  over  the  province, 
six  Capuchin  friars  arrived  from  Spain  in  1789,  chief 
of  whom  was  Father  Sedella,  remembered  best  as 
"  Father  Antoine."  He  was  fifty  years  curate;  but  the 
actual  founder  of  the  cathedral  appeared  in  the  person 
of  Andreas  Almonaster-y-Roxas,  who,  in  1792,  under- 
took to  build  a  superb  edifice  in  place  of  one  destroyed 
by  fire.  At  the  time  the  United  States  took  control  of 
Louisiana  (1803),  there  was  not  in  the  entire  colony  a 
single  Protestant  church  or  Jewish  synagogue.  The 
religious  heroes  of  New  Orleans  are  Father  Dagobert, 


Great  Cities  of  the  Valley  303 

Superior  of  the  Capuchins  in  Louisiana,  a  typical 
Amador  of  Turpenay,  and  Padre  Antonio,  mentioned 
ahove  under  his  French  name.  The  latter  came  from 
Madrid  as  Commissioner  of  the  Holy  Inquisition;  hut 
the  then  Governor  of  Louisiana,  Don  Eslevan  JNIiro, 
promptly  told  the  monk  that  heretics  were  not  to  be 
arrested,  tried,  or  burned  while  he  held  the  post.  The 
zealous  priest  was  forcibly  shipped  to  Cadiz;  but 
he  returned  as  a  humble  servant  of  the  Faith  to 
become  universally  beloved. 

Jean  Lafitte,  smuggler,  pirate,  and  hero,  the  an- 
tithesis of  all  that  was  good  or  noble,  belongs  to  any 
sketch  of  New  Orleans,  however  brief.  He  has  been 
mentioned  in  our  account  of  the  final  grapple  with  Great 
Britain  upon  the  Plain  of  Chalmette.  His  loyalty  pre- 
ceding that  important  event,  at  a  time  when  such 
fidelity  was  ungratefully  received,  and  the  splendid 
heroism  of  Lafitte  and  his  Baratarians  in  that  decisive 
battle  go  far  to  atone  for  his  lawless  acts. 

In  taking  farewell  of  the  grand  river  at  New 
Orleans,  one  comprehends  for  the  first  time  the  enor- 
mous assemblage  of  forces  concentrated  in  its  majestic 
movement  toward  the  Gulf.  It  has  received  its  last 
affluent.  The  JNIississippi,  as  we  see  it,  is  the  product 
of  the  drainage  of  one  third  of  the  territoiy  of  the 
United  States  (exclusive  of  Alaska  and  the  colonies), 
divided  into  the  following  basins,  with  their  respective 
areas  in  square  miles:  The  Missouri  River,  518,000; 
the  Upper  Mississippi,  169,000;  the  Ohio,  214,000;  the 
Arkansas  and  White,  189,000;  the  St.  Francis,  10,500; 
the  Red,  97,000;  the  Yazoo,  13,850;  and  thirty  small 
tributaries,  28,688.  This  aggregates  a  drainage  area 
of  1,240,038  square  miles. 


304  The  Mississippi 


TO  THE  KIYER 

"  Chucagua  "  and  "  Mechesepe  " — these  are  names  for  Missis- 
sippi. 

Dead  are  now  the  scalping  warriors!     But  the  music  of  the 

river, 
And  the  sweet,  syllabic  rhythm  of  its  name,  shall  live  for 

ever. 

M.  V.  MooRE,  Harper's  Magazine,  1883. 


Men  may  come  and  men  may  go. 
But  I  go  on  for  ever. 

Tennyson,  Tlie  Brook. 


The  Tomb  of  Doininicjiu'   Yoii,   llic    i'iralc    Hero   of  (Minliiict  t( 


Sonlli    Tiiss,   \iv;\y  \\;\]\<^r    I  j^li  I  lioii> 


INDEX 


Admiral's  Map,  the,  3-5,  63 

Alexander  VL,  Pope,  and  his  Bull 
of  1493,  17 

Allen,  Lieut.,  U.  S.  A.,  his  bitter- 
ness toward  Beltrami,  117 

Allouez,  Father,  brings  back  a 
name  for  the  great  river,  43 

A-ze-wa-wa-say-ta-gen  portage 
between  Red  River  of  the  North 
and  Mississippi,  142,  155 

B 

Beaulieu,  Henry,  famous  guide 
and  woodsman,  133,  143 

Beltrami,  Giacomo  C,  his  trip 
down  Turtle  River  to  Cass 
Lake  and  thence  to  Saint  Louis, 
102-105 

Injustice  done  to,  116 

Boutwell,  Rev.  W.  T.,  guest  of 
Schoolcraft,  at  Itasca,  106 

states  purpose  of  expedition 

of  1832,  107 

suggests   "  ver-i-tas   ca-put," 

111 

Brower,  J.  V.,  estimate  of  Nicol- 
let, 126 

estimate  of  Pike,  100 

explorations      and      surveys, 

110,  127,  202-207 


Capuchins,  troubles  between  Jes- 
uits and,  in  New  Orleans,  302 


Cartier,  Jacques,  voyage  of,  18-20 
Carver,  Jonathan,  at  the  Missis- 
sippi, 81,  287 
"  Casket    Girls,"    the,    of    Louisi- 
ana, 299 
Cass,  General  Lewis,  trip  to  up- 
per Mississippi,  99-102 
Cass  Lake,  description  of,  161 
Chambers  Creek,  described  by  H. 

Clarke,  C.E.,  152 
Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  224 
Chouteau,     Auguste,     builder     of 

first  house  in  Saint  Louis,  291 
Clarke,   Hopewell,   C.E.,   estimate 
of    Nicollet,    (note)    127;    128- 
130 

his  survey  of  Itasca  region, 

128-130,  152 
Columbus,  Christopher,  3,  4,  5,  6 
Crockett,  Colonel  David,  a  hero  of 
Memphis,  296 


Delta    of    the    Mississippi    River, 
208 


Eagle's  Nest  Savannah,  descrip- 
tion of,  164 

Eastman,  Mary  H.,  her  fanciful 
account  of  "  Itasca,"  117 

Elk  Lake,  beyond  Itasca,  148 

how  named,    (note)    150 


Fort  Snelling,  as  it  is  to-day,  175 


3o6 


Index 


Freytas,  Father  Nicholas,  chron- 
icle of,  46 

Frontenac,  a  pretty  village  on 
Lake  Pepin,  178 


Galtier,  Father  Lucien,  gave  name 
to  city  of  Saint  Paul,  288 

Gambling  on  Mississippi  steam- 
boats, 191-195 

Garay,  Francisco  de,  equips  Pi- 
neda, 7-8 

sends  Narvaez,  9 

Grand  Rapids,  the  barrage  at,  289 

Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  two 
voyages  of,  21-42 

H 

narrower,  Henry  D.,  his  valuable 
investigations  at  Mississippi 
sources,   (note)    127 

Hennepin,  Father  Louis,  discov- 
ers and  names  St.  Anthony's 
Fall,   66 

Houghton,  Dr.  Douglas,  his  ac- 
count of  Schoolcraft  expedition, 
114-116 


Iberville,  Pierre  Le  Moyne  d',  gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana,  74-76 

Inland  Waterways  Commission 
and  its  purposes,  233 

Inquisition,  attempt  to  introduce 
the,  in  Louisiana,  303 

Itasca  Lake,  description  of,  146 

how  named.  111 

length  of,  146 

Itasca  State  Park,  description  of, 
202 


Jefferson  buys  Louisiana,  90 
Jesuits,    trouble    between    Capu- 
chins and,  in  New  Orleans,  302 


Joliet,  Louis,  his  first  expedition, 

45 
his  second  expedition,  50 

L 
Lafayette,    Marquis  de,  his   visit 

to   Saint  Louis,  293 
Lafitte,   Jean,    smuggler   hero   of 
battle    of    New    Orleans,    245- 
252,  303 
Lake  Pepin,  description  of,  176 
La  Salle,  Sieur  de,  first  visit  to 
France,  47 

second  trip  to  Northwest,  56 

third     trip:     visits     Missis- 
sippi's mouth,  68 
Law,  John,  and  "  The  Mississippi 

Bubble,"  88,  277-284 
Leavenworth,  Colonel,  at  Fort  St. 

Anthony   in   1819,  287 
Le  Seuer,  adventurer,  76-79 
Lewis  and  Clark  at  Saint  Louis 
in  1803,  93 

expedition,  94-96 

expedition,  value  to  American 

literature,  96 
"  Libby's,"  at  Sandy  Lake,  169 
Liguest,   Pierre   Leclade,   founder 

of  Saint  Louis,  290 
Livingston,    Robert    R.,    and    the 

Louisiana  Purchase,  90 
Long,  Major,  U.  S.  N.,  anC  Bel- 
trami, quarrel  of,  104 
Louisiana  Purchase,  the,  85 

its   area,   91 

its  cheapness,  92 

M 
"  Maiden  Rock,"  on  Lake  Pepin, 

and  its  legend,  176-177 
"  Mardi   Gras,"   in  New  Orleans, 

301 
Marquette's  "Narrative,"  50-56 
Memphis,  history  of  the  city,  294 
in  the  Civil  War,  270,  272. 

296 


Index 


307 


Metoswa    Rapids,    description    of 

the,   160 
Minneapolis,   history  of  the   city, 

286 
"  Mississippi    Bubble  "   and   John 

Law,  277-284 
Mississippi  River  delta,  208 

discoveries  at  the  source,  151 

in  war,  237-276 

Indian  massacres,  237 

War  of  1812-15,  242 

the  Civil  War,  252 

jetties  at  mouths  of,  218 

levees,  210 

Narrative  of  a  Voyage  from 

Elk  Lake  to  the  Sea,  131 

philology  of  the  word,  79 

Monroe,    James,    sent    as    special 

envoy  to  Napoleon,  90 
Morrison,  William,  visited  Lac  La 

Biche  in  1802,  83 


N 


Napoleon   I.,    and   the   Louisiana 

Province,  89 
Napoleon,  the  lost  town  of,  195 
Nauvoo,  the  sacred  town  of  Morm- 

onism,  183-188 
New  Orleans,  capture  of,  by  Far- 

ragut,  262 
French-Creole    quarter,    199, 

300 

history  of  the  city  of,  297 

Newspaper,  first,  in  upper  Missis- 
sippi   Valley,    the    Saint    Louis 

Republic,  293 
Nicollet,   Jean    N.,    expedition   to 

sources  of  Mississippi,  119-130 


Pemidji  Lake,  description  of,  159 
Pike  Rapids,  dangerous  to  "  run," 

170 
Pike,  Zebulon   M.,   U.   S.   A.,  ex- 


plorations on  upper  Mississippi, 
98 

Indian  council  at  St.  An- 
thony Fall,  287 

"  Pillagers,"  among  the,  at  Turtle 
River,  162 

Pineda,  Alonzo  Alvarez  de,  his 
expedition,   7-8 

Pokegama  Fall,  165 

Pokegama  Lake,  scene  of  famine, 
1850-51,  167 


Radisson,  Peter  Esprit,  his  manu- 
scripts, 21-42 

Reservoirs  on  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi, 289 

S 

St.  Anthony  Fall,  considered  geo- 
logically, 173 

St.  Cosme,  Father,  his  "  Narra- 
tive," 71-74 

Saint  Louis,  history  of  the  city, 
290 

Jean  N.  Nicollet's  comments, 

293 

Saint  Paul,  history  of  the  city, 
286 

Schoolcraft,  Henry  R.,  with  Cass 
expedition,  1820,  100 

expedition    to    Itasca    Lake, 

106-118 

naming  of  Cass  Lake,  100 

naming  of  Itasca  Lake,  111 

Soto,  Hernando  de,  expedition, 
13-15 

Spirit  Island,  story  of  the,  138- 
141 

Steamboat  traffic  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, 228 

•  race    between    the    Lee    and 

Natchez,  229 


Thompson,    David,   traveller    and 
astronomer,  81 


3o8 


Index 


Thomson,   Metellus,   characterises 

Minnehaha  Creek,  289 
Thundering     Rapids,     description 

of  the,  167 
Timber-cruiser,    the,    his    solitary 

life,  134-135 
Tonty,   Henry  de,  the   one-armed 

hero  of  the  Mississippi,  57-62, 

72,  74 
Turtle  River  and  Beltrami,  105 


U 


Upham,     Warren,     on     Radisson 
manuscripts,  30,  31,  38,  42 


Vaca,  Nuiiez  Cabeza  de,  his  "  Re- 
lation,"  10 

Varnhagen's,  Count  de,  defence 
of  Vespucius,  6 


Verendrye,  M.  de  La,  in  the 
Northwest,  82 

Vespucius,  Americus,  his  claims, 
5-6 

Vicksburg,  siege  of,  by  General 
Grant,  269 

Virginia,  the  first  steamer  to  as- 
cend to  Fort  Snelling,  1823,  287 

Voudouism  still  practised  on 
shores  of  Lake  Pontchartrain, 
301 

W 

White  Earth  Mission,  in  Chip- 
pewa land,  133 

White  Oak  Point,  a  landmark, 
165 

Winnebagoshish  Lake,  descrip- 
tion of,  163 


Jl:  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogues  sent 
on  application 


merican    Waterways 


The  Romance  of   the  Colorado  River 

TTie  Story  of  its  Discovery  m  1  540,  with  an  account  of  the  Later 
Explorations,  amd  with  SpeciaJ  Reference  to  the  Voyages  of  Powell 
through  the  Line  of  the  Great  Canyons. 

By  Frederick  S.  Dellenbaugh 

Member  of  the  United  States  Colorado  River  Expedition  of  1871  and  1872 

435  pages,  with  200  Illustrations,  and  Frontispiece  in  Color.     S3.50  net 

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"  Mr.  Dellenbaugh  writes  with  enthusiasm  and  balance  about  his 
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ished mterest, — New  York  Tribune. 


The  Ohio  River 

A  COURSE  OF  EMPIRE 
By  Archer  B.  Hulbert 

Associate  Professor  of  American  History,  Marietta  College, 
Author  of  "Historic  Highways  of  America,"  etc. 


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in  the  Revolution,  the  rise  of  the  cities  of  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and  Louis- 
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"A  wonderfully  comprehensive  and  entirely  fascinating  book." — 
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American    Waterways 


Narragansett    Bay 


Its  Historic  and  Romantic  Associations  and  Picturesque  Setting 

By  Edgar  Mayhew  Bacon 

Author  of  "  The  Hudson  River,"  "  Chronicles  of  Tarrytown,"  etc. 

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of  history,  as  well  as  by  the  incomparable  setting  the  great  bay  affords  for 
such  a  subject,  the  author  offers  this  result  of  his  labor  as  a  contribution 
to  the  story  of  great  American  Waterways,  with  the  hope  that  his  readers 
may  be  imbued  with  somewhat  of  his  own  enthusiasm. 

"  An  attractive  description  of  the  picturesque  part  of  Rhode  Island. 
Mr.  Bacon  dwells  on  the  natural  beauties,  the  legendary  and  historical  asso- 
ciations, rather  than  the  present  appearance  of  the  shores." — N.  Y.  Sun. 


The  Great  Lakes 

Vessels  That  Plough  Them,  Their  Owners,  Theit  Sailors,  and  Their  Cargoes  f 

together  with  A  Brief  History  of  Our  Inland  Seas 

By  James  Oliver  Curwood 

244  pages,  with  72  Illustrations  and  a  Map,     $3,50  net 

This  profusely  illustrated  book,  as  entertaining  as  it  is  mforming,  has 
the  twofold  advantage  of  being  written  by  a  man  who  knows  the  Lakes 
and  their  shores  as  well  as  what  has  been  written  about  them.  The  gen- 
eral reader  will  enjoy  the  romance  attaching  to  the  past  history  of  the 
Lakes  and  not  less  the  romance  of  the  present — the  story  of  the  great 
commercial  fleets  that  plough  our  inland  seas,  created  to  transport  the 
fruits  of  the  earth  and  the  metals  that  are  dug  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth.  To  the  business  man  who  has  interests  in  or  about  the  Lakes,  or 
to  the  prospective  investor  b  Great  Lakes  enterprises,  the  book  will  be 
found  suggestive.  Comparatively  little  has  been  wnritten  of  these  fresh- 
water seas,  and  many  of  his  readers  will  be  amazed  at  the  wonderful 
story  which  this  volume  tells. 


Jj merican  W aterways 


The  St.  Lawrence  River 

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque 
By  George  Waldo  Browne 

Author  of  "  Japan — the  Place  and  the  People,"  "  Paradise  of  the  Pacific,"  etc. 
385  pages,  with  100  Illustrations  and  a  Map.     S3. 50  net 

While  the  St.  Lawrence  River  has  been  the  scene  of  many  important 
events  connected  with  the  discovery  emd  development  of  a  large  portion 
of  North  America,  no  attempt  has  heretofore  been  made  to  collect  and 
embody  in  one  volume  a  complete  and  comprehensive  narrative  of  this  great 
waterway.  This  is  not  denying  that  considerable  has  been  written  relating 
to  it,  but  the  various  offerings  have  been  scattered  through  many  volumes, 
and  most  of  these  have  become  inaccessible  to  the  general  reader. 

This  work  presents  in  a  consecutive  narrative  the  most  important 
historic  incidents  connected  with  the  river,  combined  with  descriptions  of 
some  of  its  most  picturesque  scenery  and  delightful  excursions  into  its 
legendary  lore.  In  selecting  the  hundred  illustrations  ceu^e  has  been  taken 
to  give  as  wide  a  scope  as  possible  to  the  views  belongmg  to  the  river. 


The  Niagara  River 

By  Archer  Butler  Hulbert 

Professor  of  American  History,  Marietta  College ;  author  of  "  The  Ohio  River," 
"Historic  Highways  of  America,"  etc. 

350  pages,  with  70  Illustrations  and  Maps.     $3,50  net 

Professor  Hulbert  tells  all  that  is  best  worth  recording  of  the  history 
of  the  river  which  gives  the  book  its  title,  and  of  its  commercial  present 
and  its  great  commercial  future.  An  immense  amount  of  carefully  ordered 
information  is  here  brought  together  into  a  most  entertaining  and  informing 
book.  No  mention  of  this  volume  can  be  quite  adequate  that  fails  to  take 
into  account  the  extraordinary  chapter  which  is  given  to  chronicling  the 
mad  achievements  of  that  company  of  dare-devil  bipeds  of  both  sexes  who 
for  decades  have  been  sweeping  over  the  Falls  in  barrels  and  other 
receptacles,  or  who  have  gone  dancing  their  dizzy  way  on  ropes  or  wires 
stretched  from  shore  to  shore  above  the  boiling,  leaping  water  beneath. 


yl  merican     Waterways 


The  Hudson  River 

FROM  OCEAN  TO  SOURCE 
Historical  —  Legendary  —  Picturesque 

By  Edgar  Mayhew  Bacon 

Author  of  "  Chronicles  of  Tarrytown,"  "  Narragansett  Bay,"  etc. 

600  Pages,  with  WO  Illustrations,  including  a  Sectional  Map  of  the  Hudson 
River.     $3.50  net 

"  The  value  of  this  handsome  quarto  does  not  depend  solely  on 
the  attractiveness  with  which  Mr.  Bacon  has  invested  the  whole  subject, 
it  is  a  kind  of  footnote  to  the  more  conventionaJ  histories,  because  it 
throws  light  upon  the  life  and  habits  of  the  earliest  settlers.  It  is  a  study 
of  Dutch  civilization  m  the  New  World,  severe  enough  in  intentions  to 
be  accurate,  but  easy  enough  in  temper  to  make  a  great  deal  of  humor, 
and  to  comment  upon  those  characteristic  customs  and  habits  which,  while 
they  escape  the  attention  of  the  formal  historian,  are  full  of  significance." 

Outlook. 


The  Connecticut  River 

AND  THE 

Valley  of  the  Connecticut 

THREE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  MILES  FROM  MOUNTAIN  TO  SEA 

Historical  and  Descriptive 

By  Edwin  Munroe  Bacon 

Author  of  "  Walks  and  Rides  in  the  Country  Round  About  Boston,"  etc. 
500  Pages,  with  100  Illustrations  and  a  Map.     $350  net 

From  ocean  to  source  every  mile  of  the  Connecticut  is  crowded  with 
reminders  of  the  early  explorers,  of  the  Indian  wars,  of  the  struggle  of  the 
Colonies,  and  of  the  quaint,  peaceful  village  existence  of  the  early  days  of 
the  Republic.  Beginning  with  the  Dutch  discovery,  Mr.  Bacon  traces 
the  interesting  movements  and  events  which  are  associated  with  this  chief 
river  of  New  England. 


American   Waterways 


The  Columbia  River 

Its  History— Its  Myths — Its  Scenery— Its  Commerce 

By  William  Denison  Lyman 

Professor  of  History  in  Whitman  College,  Walla  Walla,  Washington 

430  pages,  with  60  Illustratioas  and  a  Map,     $3.50  net 

This  is  the  first  effort  to  present  a  book  distinctively  on  the  Columbia 
River.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  author  to  give  some  special  prominence 
to  Nelson  and  the  magnificent  lake  district  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 
As  the  joint  possession  of  the  United  States  and  British  Columbia,  and 
as  the  grandest  scenic  river  of  the  continent,  the  Columbia  is  worthy  of 
specicil  attention. 

American  Inland  Waterways 

Their  Relation  to  Railway  Transportation  and  to  the  National 
Welfare  /  Their  Creation,  Restoration,  and  Maintenance 
By  Herbert  Quick 
262  pages,  with  60  Illustrations  and  a  Map.     $3.50  act 
A  study  of  our  water  highways,  and  a  comparison  of  them  with  the 
like  channels  of  trade  and  travel  abroad.     This  book  covers  the  question 
of  waterways  in  well-nigh  all  their  aspects— their  importance  to  the  na- 
tion's welfare,  their  relations  to  the  railways,  their  creation,  restoration,  and 
maintenance.     The  bearing  of  forestry  upon  the  subject  in  question  is 
considered,  and  there  is  a  suggested  plan  for   a  continental  system  of 
waterways.     There  are  a  large  number  of  illustrations  of  the  first  interest. 

The  Mississippi  River 

And  Its   Wonderful   Valley  Twenty  .'five  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
Miles  from  Source  to  Sea 
By  Julius  Chambers 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
In  Preparation 

Each  will  be  fully  illustrated  and  will  probably  be  published  at  $3,50  net 

1. — Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain 

By  W.  Max  Reid 
Author  of  "  The  Mohawk  Valley,"  "  The  Story  of  Old  Fort  Johnson,"  etc. 

2. — The  Story  of  the  Chesapeake 

By  Ruthella  Mory  Bibbins 


,/^ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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IV.  AY  22  1963 


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General  Library 


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